Remy's Pursuit
by ElvenMuggle
Summary: Remy's on a mission and he won't stop until he gets what he wants: Rogue...Much to her annoyance.
1. The Chapter Where The Story Begins

Ya know, after living day after day for years in what could possibly be the loudest place ever, something occurs to me. The key to inner peace. I don't know why I've never thought of it before. I mean, I could have sat in quiet serenity every morning at breakfast while all of the other students around me talked and argued extremely loud in my poor ear.

All the arguments over the bathroom in the mornings, the fights for the shower after a danger room session, getting pissed because someone finished off the milk and didn't bother telling me before I poured myself a nice, giant bowl full of cereal…All of that could have been avoided if I had just thought of it sooner. Ok, maybe not the whole milk deal. I mean, how hard is a simple: sorry, no more milk?

But anyway, what I found out is that if I spend a few hours alone, it just makes my mind...clearer somehow just to get a few hours of peace and quiet when I can just think to myself.

Go ahead; call it stupid, but it WORKS. Of course, finding a few hours to myself can be hard. Around the mansion there always seems to be someone (most of the time several people) around. The only time I could possibly get any time alone during the day is to sit in my room, but even then, it's so loud with everyone talking and music blasting I can't think at all.

But of course, this idea didn't just pop into my head. It came to me accidentally.

Ok, so one night it was storming very loudly outside. Now I hate thunderstorms so of course I couldn't sleep. It was still dark outside (I think it was around five). But I got up anyway and went downstairs. I just sat down there for the next few hours all by myself, eating breakfast, watching the news, reading a book. And it was so QUIET. And for some reason, through the rest of the day, I was so...calm.

Everything that would usually irritate me didn't anymore. Jean's obsessive hair brushing, Kitty's constant use of the word 'like', Logan's annoyed growl (I mean, come ON, someone else besides you can be grumpy in the morning ya know.), Scott's bossiness, Kurt being naive, and Tabatha's soooo unappealing flirtation with every freakin person are just a few things that bug me.

But that day, nothing bothered me. I was like, hey, things could be worse, this is nothing and it's stupid to get mad at such small things.

So yeah, after that day, I rearranged my schedule. I started going to bed at ten (yes, TEN) and waking up at five (yes, FIVE). Somehow, getting a few hours a day alone gave me inner peace.

I got to control the remote and watch whatever I wanted on the TV (something I had never gotten to do in the mansion) and I got first dibs on the orange juice. These were just a few plusses to my alone time.

OH. And did I tell you the best part? It's my_ favorite_ part. When I'm up the morning all alone, I don't have to wear my gloves. Sometimes I decide to be bold and go with short sleeves. For a few hours everyday I can be free.

Lately I've been going outside and taking a walk around the block. It's cold, being February and all, but there aren't any people out there either and it's _quiet_.

I think about, in the two weeks that I've been walking, I've seen maybe two cars drive by. That is why it's such a shock to me today when I'm walkin' down my usual path on the sidewalk and I see someone standin' up ahead leaning against a lamp post. They're leaning up against it in a way that prevents me from being able to see his or her face.

But I can at least tell that it's a guy. Or a woman with a masculine figure maybe.

I start to walk slower and wonder if I should just turn around and go back to the institute. I mean, at this time in the morning-or night-whatever you call it-it could be a rapist or murderer or some creepy mutant hunter. Not that I've ran into a mutant hunter before, but I have heard of them. But anyway, back to the strange man.

I finally decide that hey, I've got poison skin, if the guy tries to attack me, I'll just drain him.

My hands are ungloved, but I've got my jacket on. It's cold and I want to wrap it around me more securely but I decide that it would probably be safer while I'm passing this guy to let my arms hang at my sides, just in case.

I'm walkin' up to him and he doesn't move. I don't even think he sees me coming. He's leanin up against the lamp post and facing away from the road, out of the light.

As I draw closer, I notice that certain things about his figure seem somehow familiar. But that's a stupid thing to say and the lighting really sucks anyway, so what do I know? I get closer and he still doesn't move.

Finally, I jerk my eyes away from him and pass him. For some reason, I feel relieved. I suppose because he didn't try to attack me, but of course, I've only just passed him so he's still got a perfect chance to do it.

Oh what a lovely thought _that_ was, not creepin myself out at all.

Anyway, I've just walked past him when I notice that he's moving. I almost flip out before I remember that the whole mutant hunter thing was all in my head. And besides, he's not moving quickly towards me, he's just lazily standing up straight. That's when I hear his footsteps on the pavement behind me.

I _almost_ flip out again. And by _almost_, I mean I'm stupid, and I flung my body around and threw my bare hands up in front of me in defense.

I blink a few times at the familiar face that greets me.

From the familiar face comes a familiar voice. "What's a matter, Rogue? You ain't gonna say hello to your old friend, Gambit?"

He tilts his head at me and sends me a grin.

I of course didn't expect this appearance of his, so I'm silent for a moment. He's probably thinkin' right about now that I'm a little brain damaged.

I finally shake myself out of it and relax a little, dropping my hands back to my sides.

"My old friend? The last time I saw you, you kidnapped me!"

"Aw, you know you liked it." He sends me wink and continues on with that stupid grin.

I roll my eyes and try to force down the blush I feel trying to come up. What is it about this Cajun that always causes this affect?

To distract myself, I glare at him and he just grins back of course. He looks exactly like I remember him looking. The same outfit, the same long jacket. I can even see the lump in his jacket pocket on his chest where I know his deck of cards is stashed. The only difference in his appearance that I can tell was that his hair looks to be about half an inch longer.

That and his accent seems to be stronger, but that could be because I haven't heard it in so long.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I blurt out, finally speakin' my mind.

His eyes light up mischievously. Yes, I know that they're red, but I'm tellin you, they got brighter.

"That's for Gambit to know and you to find out, yeah?"

He just gives me that look; that cocky all-knowing look that bugs the hell out of me.

I mean, what does he think he knows anyway? Does he think that even with every rejection, that I really do like all the flirtin? Cause I don't.

"Gambit should be askin you the same thing, you check your watch? Or do you even sleep at all?"

I cross my arms. My hands are startin to itch with the effort I'm making of holdin myself back to keep from hitting him. But of course, in my case, all I'd really have to do is touch him and he'd be on the ground.

But I ain't gonna give him the satisfaction of knowin that he had gotten to me. That was all he was after and I knew it. I had gotten a look into his mind more than once and I knew that that was how he was. Not only that, but I was very reluctant to drain him again since the last time all I got in my head were dirty thoughts. Dirty thoughts that refused to go away for months, longer than anyone's thoughts had stayed with me before. Seriously, he was the most dirty-minded person I have ever drained, hands down.

But back to what I was saying—I'm not going to let him see that he's gettin' to me.

"Say, Rogue, what's goin on in that head of your's, hm?"

He takes a step closer to me and my first instinct is to take a step away. But then I remember that I have to seem unnerved by him and I stay rooted to my spot.

"Nothing, Gambit…but I think I should be getting back to the mansion now."

He makes a face that on anyone else, I would have described as a pout, but the words, 'pout' and 'Gambit' just don't seem to go together very well to me for some reason.

He sighs. "Alright then, if that's what you want…" He takes another step closer to me. We're only about two feet apart now.

I'm going to stand my ground, I'm going to stand my ground, I'm going to stand my ground…

He continues in a low voice. "But before you go," Stand my ground! "You think ol' Gambit could get a kiss?"

I'm going to stand my—WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?

I broke. My whole cool, uncaring demeanor broke. And he could tell. My glare was enough to tell him that. He didn't have to see the brilliant blush that I felt light up—no, excuse me, BURN up my face, or see me take a few steps back and then nearly slip on some loose gravel before balancing myself just in time. No, my glare alone was what told him that he had won.

"Shutup, swamp rat, go crawl back under whatever rock you came from."

A lopsided grin broke out across his face and he looks quite proud of himself. Dumbass. He smirks at me and tilts his head to the side. "But seriously now, chéri," He purrs, "You're not really gonna leave Gambit heartbroken with no sugar are ya'?"

I breathe out loudly through my nose and continue to glare at him. "That wouldn't even work-" I said angrily before cutting it off with another thought, "And I don't like you-"

"Oh, now that's not true."

I completely ignore him and go on. "And you have this special way of annoying me more than anyone else can."

"That's just proof." He muttered.

"Proof of WHAT?"

"You know…"

I just stare at him, expecting him to say somethin to explain himself further but he just stands there and stares at me. Oh it's too much. He is so annoying. No one could get me irritated like this, I was sure. This was why I'd never liked him in the first place. That, and the fact that he was one of Magneto's followers of course.

I sigh. "Ok, if you're not going to tell me why you're here and just stand there and annoy me, I'm going to leave."

I walk around him and back down the street towards the mansion.

"I'll see you tomorrow then.." He says from behind me.

I turn to look at him but am met with the sight of an empty sidewalk. Oooooookaaay…_yeah_, that's not creepy at all. Weirdo Cajun…

Why was he here, anyway? And more importantly, why was here at this time of all times, bugging me? It seemed like he just showed up for that sole purpose, just to bug me. Or flirt with me sounded more like the proper term. My annoyance was just my natural reaction to his personality.

By the time I got back to the mansion, it was six forty five and I didn't have that satisfied feeling that I usually get after I've had one of my beloved mornings alone.

Gambit had made me annoyed at him, and taken away some of my alone time. I tried not to let it get to me, but I'm not the best person at controlling my feelings sometimes, and I ended up being grumpy all day. All because of that damned swamp rat.

All day I was cranky and I could tell everyone noticed. I mostly tried to stay in my own room. It was actually going ok and I was starting to get a little less grumpy when a very strange thing happened. My phone rang.

Now, pretty much all of the bedrooms in this place have separate phone lines, and they are frequently used. Except for mine. About 97% of the people that I know live here and the three percent of the people that I know that don't live here; I just don't talk to them on the phone very much. So that's why it was strange when my phone rang.

After I stare at it for a moment, I answer. "Hello?"

"Bonjour ma belle," a low purring voice answers back.

"Uh, what?" I ask rudely.

"It means hello beautiful." Gambit.

"Oh God." I slap my hand to my forehead.

"Ain't you happy to hear from Gambit? It took me forever to get this number by the way."

"_How_ did you get this number?" I ask incredulously. "And why did you go to all the trouble? And why are you calling me in the first place?"

Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. But at the moment, I really, really, _really_ don't care, I'm having a bad day.

"Well,"

"Don't call me!"

I hear soft laughter on the other end.

"You wanna know somethin strange, Rogue? I really like it when you yell at me."

I feel my mouth drop open. That stupid...right about now I feel like slamming the phone down and maybe (hopefully) bust his eardrum. I almost did. I had my hand poised over the hook ready to slam when I thought better of it, remembering his all too annoying look of triumph earlier this morning when he had gotten to me.

He would sooo love it if I slammed the phone down right now. Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Well, that's just…_lovely,_" I say through gritted teeth.

I could hear the obnoxious grin in his voice. "I thought you would think so…Now tell me, beautiful, when is Gambit gonna get to see you again?"

I reminded myself of Wolverine as I growled into the phone. I heard him chuckling before I slammed the phone down as hard as I could. I felt satisfied with myself hoping that maybe he at least had a bad earache now before I remembered that he had won.

"UGH!" I clench my fists at my sides, ready to swing at the wall before I think better of it. Breaking my hand was not going to help me right now. I just needed to clear my head.

Not only had that swamp rat ruined my day, but it had also been Saturday, which made me feel like my whole weekend had been ruined. And this train of thought quickly led me to wondering why all of this made me so mad…Of course; it was because he had taken my morning alone away from me.

Or, (another corner of my mind told me) it could be that I was remembering the last time I had spent some time alone with Gambit, and that whole thing had just blown up. I am, of course, referring to the time he kidnapped me. Somehow during that little excursion I somehow came to the point where I actually trusted the guy for two seconds. And, well, let's just say that that turned out to be a stupid idea. But I had excused it since all he had been doing was trying to save his dad…

I take a deep breath in an attempt to settle my nerves. Tomorrow I just won't go for a walk. I'll just stay here in the mansion. I'm not sure what Gambit is playing at, but I'm not going to help him.

Damn Cajun…


	2. The Chapter Where Kitty Goes To The Mall

The next week went by normally. Well, semi normally that is.

I didn't go for any more early morning walks. I turned the ringer off on my phone and completely ignored the blinking light that told me I had messages. I went to school, did my homework, went to training sessions, spent time with my friends, and didn't think of Gambit once.

Ok, the last part might be a lie. I couldn't figure why Gambit had suddenly decided to show up out of no where. I had thought it through and the only explanation that I could conjure up was that he must be doing something for Magneto. And then I remembered that they're little group had broken up according to Colossus who is now on good terms with the X-men.

So I was left with a blank. My curiosity was so strong I thought that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to pick up the phone one of these days. But I quickly changed my mind about that when I remembered that this was Gambit I was thinking about. I don't think I've ever gotten a strait answer out of him.

Ok, time to get my mind off of Gambit. I bring myself back to earth and try to listen to the conversation Kitty and Kurt are having next to me.

It's a school day and we're all eating lunch at one of the tables outside. I'm pretty sure they're talking about their plans for the weekend.

"What about you, Rogue?" Kitty asks me.

I blink. "Oh, sorry, what?"

"The mall?…Haven't you been listening?"

Whoops. "Um-"

"You ok, Rogue? You seem distracted." Kurt sounds a bit worried.

"Yeah, you've been like, total space cadet lately." Kitty adds with a curious look in my direction.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine, I've just got some things on my mind…No big deal," I add after seeing their expressions grow more worried.

After a second, Kitty nods. "Ok…well, me and Kurt we're thinking of-"

Wait a minute...I narrow my eyes past Kitty—_what the hell_?

Standing just beyond the school grounds is _Gambit _leaning casually up against a tree, grinning like an idiot at me.

WHY?

"Rogue, what is it?" Kurt follows my gaze and narrows his eyes. "Is that..?"

"Yep." I answer.

Kitty turns to see what we're looking at. "What's he doing here?"

I really wish I knew. But then again, maybe I don't. Anything that Gambit is up to can't be any good, and I would rather it have nothing to do with me.

Gambit looks so casual there; as if he were there every day. And I don't want to think about what the big grin means. It was most likely because he knew he was driving me crazy which I had found out from my sneak peek into his mind that he enjoys immensely.

I have never met a character like Gambit before, and honestly, I don't know what to make of him. Not that I want to make anything of him.

As I glare in his direction, his grin broadens, and he tips his head to me before slowly turning and walking off. Ok…now I'm a little creeped out. And judging by the looks I'm receiving from Kitty and Kurt they're expecting an explanation from me. As if I could give one.

I swallow hard and look back and forth between them.

Kitty is giving me a funny look. "Are you and Gambit…?"

It takes me a second to understand her pointed look at me. Then it clicked. I clench my eyes shut and shake my head, all the while resisting the urge to moan in frustration. "NO!" I open my eyes and look at her. "NO," I say again just for good measure.

She holds her hands up in defense. "Ok, ok, I get it, you're not boinking Gambit."

I blush at her ludicrous term and instead turn to Kurt, who was shaking his head. "So you don't know why he was here? He seemed to be looking at you."

Wow, thanks Gambit, now I get to explain to my friends why I didn't say anything about you sooner. This was going to be a fun day. I shrug at Kurt's question and bite my lip. "Well…I don't know why he was here exactly, but I um…did see him the other day." I say that last part quietly. But they hear me.

"What? Where?" Kitty soundd slightly alarmed. Her eyes widen a bit. "Did he try to-" for one wild moment I thought she was going to say 'kiss you' before she ended with—"hurt you?"

The thought of Gambit trying to hurt me didn't seem right. I don't _think_ he would try to hurt me. Then I remember the very first time we met where he had tried to blow me up into a million pieces. Ok, yeah, so that was a while ago but while remembering this I become even more cautious of Gambit than I already was. Damn Cajun. Get outta my head!

"No, no…he just said hello, asked how I was doing…"

Kitty and Kurt stare at me. I'm sure I'm startin' to look insane. Five minutes ago I was normal. Now, thanks to Gambit, I'm the girl who has nice conversations with her enemies at five o'clock in the morning on street corners and fails to tell anyone about it. _Nice_.

Kurt blinks slowly. "So we should probably tell the Professor and Logan he's back in town, right?"

I nod. Though I don't want to talk to people about why I didn't say anything before (I.e. I don't want to tell anyone that Gambit tried to make out with me) it seems that this is more than likely to happen.

Kitty stands and is shortly followed by Kurt. "Let's go then," she says while grabbing her bag.

I bite my lip again. "Um—skip school? Shouldn't we-" anything to put off the inevitable.

Kitty cuts me off. "No, I think this is important, and I still don't get why you didn't say anything. And what's the big deal with leaving? It's Friday, everyone's skipping."

I shrug and search for something to say. Kitty's confused by my not saying anything; Logan on the other hand would be pissed and the Professor would want a strait answer as to why I didn't say anything. "We could be unique…"

I'm answered with Kitty's hand on my arm, as she pulls me up out of my seat. I only manage to grab my bag just in time before she and Kurt steer me to a more discreet area where no one could see us teleport.

I try one more time to change their minds. "Ya know, I don't think the Professor would approve of us skippin school, maybe we should just a take a few minutes to-"

And then we teleported. Within two seconds we're standing on the front steps of the institute and I'm left there by Kitty and Kurt who sprint through the door.

"—talk about it." I grumble before shuffling after them. Oh what a _lovely_ day this was turning out to be. And once again, whose fault was it?

As I enter the foyer I find that the Professor is already there, looking slightly alarmed as Kitty and Kurt sprint towards him. They both start talking at once—telling how they had seen Gambit—Kitty started saying how suspicious he looked—Kurt insisted that he had a murderous look about him. I walk over calmly to stand in-between them and wait for them to finish. I notice that the Professor has one hand to his temple and looks slightly stressed as he tries to take both of them in at once.

"And Rogue saw him the other day!" Kitty finishes while pointing a finger at me. Thanks Kitty.

The Professor lifts an eyebrow at this but otherwise doesn't say anything. Instead he holds both his hands up in a silent gesture for them to stop.

"Well," he starts calmly, "I was going to wait for you to get home from school to tell you about this, but seeing as you're already here…" Oh no, this couldn't be anything good. "Gambit does not pose a threat to us; it's nothing for you or anyone else to worry about. In fact, he's come by today, just after you all left for school and we talked." NO NO NO—"We was so kind to allow me a deep look into his mind and he's sincere—he wants to join the X-men."

I stare at him. Actually we all stare at him. We all stare him for a long time. I'm not sure how long we all stare—or more gape at him, but it feels like several minutes. But he sits and waits patiently for us to process this. Myself, well, right about now I felt like busting my head through a wall but I'm trying to keep that emotion bottled up…At least while I'm in front of my friends.

And it's not like I can argue with the Professor on his decision to let Gambit join us—it 's his house for one and for two, he had read his thoughts...How can I argue with that?

But the fact that Gambit sincerely wanted to join the X-men? Now that was news. Not good news since I was sure he was going to drive me up the wall out of my mind want to shoot myself in the head crazy. But at least he was on the right side of the fence now.

I should be happy—at least for the fact this was would be a good addition to the X-men and would undoubtedly make the team stronger. But all I feel is annoyance. That seems to be my main emotion lately.

It was Kurt who spoke first. "Are…are you sure, Professor?"

Professor X nods. "Yes Kurt, one hundred percent."

"So, Gambit is going to be livin and training with us?" I ask in a dread filled voice.

The Professor nods again but now he looks slightly amused. "Yes Rogue. And I would hope that you are all adult enough to handle this change with some maturity, hm?"

Kitty and Kurt murmur in agreement while I nod solemnly.

"Excellent!" Professor X claps his hands together once. "Then…I think it's safe to assume that you aren't going back to school. Perhaps you would like to do some extra training sessions with Wolverine?"

We all cringe simultaneously. Seeing the looks on our faces, the Professor chuckles and tells us that we can go. We all sprint out of the door before he can change his mind.

Now I find myself wondering what the hell is going on in the mind of Gambit. Why would he want to join the X-men? I could just go and ask the Professor but I don't want him to think that I actually care. Cause I don't. I could care less about Gambit and what he wants.

Now all I have to concentrate on is staying out of the house as much as possible. I nod vaguely when Kitty suggests we go hang out in the mall. Yes, I know from torturous experience that Kitty could stay in the mall for weeks on end if anyone let her. Right now my choice was that or Gambit trying to attack me…with his mouth.

…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH ! Where is the wall to bang your head on when you need it? Or the anvil to drop on you from above? Or the cliff to jump off of? WHY did I let myself be dragged into this?

After I had agreed to one thing, Kitty had gone ballistic, dragging me from store to store, trying on clothes for me to judge, spraying perfume in my face for me to smell, and laden me down with bags (she was already carrying fifteen) for me to carry. Kurt had ditched us hours ago. So six hours and four aspirin later, I feel defeated. And exhausted. Maybe Gambit's own form of torture would be better than Kitty's form of torture after all.

Speaking of Kitty, she's still going fine, talking a hundred miles a minute and somehow still squealing in excitement when she see's something else she wants in one of the shop windows.

She squeals again, shaking me from my thoughts and lifts a bag laden arm to point at a window. "OH! Look at-"

I snap. "NO."

"But I just want-"

"NO."

"Last one-"

"NO."

She stuck out her bottom lip. "Oh fine. I knew it wouldn't last. Are you ready to go?"

I sigh in relief. "Yes!"

I was shocked when we walked outside and it was dark. I had spent my WHOLE DAY in that STUPID MALL. I was never going back. I vowed to myself as I swung Kitty's bags into the trunk. Never. Never. Never. Maybe I would blow it up. YES. Now THAT sounded fun.

I _might_ have driven too fast in my haste to get home. I barely thought about what would be waiting for me. I caught Kitty cringing out of the corner of my eye when I swung around a particularly sharp corner but ignored it (with an almost maniacal grin) and drove even faster.

There was rarely anyone home on Friday nights so when we got to the house, it was unsurprisingly empty save for the Professor and Mr. McCoy. After letting them know I was home, I kept an eye out for 'He who must not be named' but caught no sign of him. Ok so far…now I just have to get to my bedroom without running into him on the way.

I'm so glad that Kitty and I had recently moved to separate rooms so now I wouldn't have to listen to her talking on the phone about all of her purchases. (And this was something she would somehow stretch into a three hour conversation.)

After falling face down on the bed, I let out a loud strangled moan in an attempt to let out some of my tension. It works a little and as I snuggle my face into the pillow I think I might just fall asleep like this.

"It's rude not to greet your guest."

My eyes shoot open at once and screeching, I fly up backward off of the bed, stumble over my own two feet, and land straight on my behind. Wow. Smooth.

I immediately start scrambling to get up, painfully aware of how stupid I must look (and also extremely aware of the pain in my backside) while that—that BUTTHEAD looks on, seemingly amused by this.

By the time I get on my feet, I'm seething. Clenching my fists at my side, I'm ready to start swinging. But he's still a good distance away; I'm pretty sure he hasn't moved an inch since I flew off of the bed. He's just standing there with that stupid smirk on his face.

"YOU—YOU!" for some reason I can't think of anything to call him that would sum up what I'm feeling right now. Really though, I'm not sure if any insult would sum that up. "YOU…BABOON!"

Ok, now he's definitely tryin' to keep a straight face. That son of a—

"That's an interestin choice of words…" He smirks at me again. "How come you never called me back?"

I blink at his change of subject. But no, I am not going to be sucked into this!

I grip my fists tighter at my sides. "WHAT are you doing here?" I seethe.

"I live here."

"You don't live in my room!"

He swings himself onto my bed, stretching out like he thinks he belongs there. He props one arm behind his head and with the other starts picking at one of my pillows. "That's somethin' we can change though, yeah?"

I smack myself in the forehead. "Get out." I say while rubbing my eyes. This is starting to give me a headache.

"Of my clothes?" He asks innocently.

I try to think of something to say to this, but nothing comes to mind. Instead I look like an idiot while I open my mouth and then I realize that I don't have anything to say, and I close it again.

He watches me from the bed. "Thinking about what it would be like?"

I glare at him. Something inside of me seems to snap or break or…something. Pop? No, that's not it either. "No," I say slowly, "I was just wondering why you're so stupid!"

He has no reaction to this so I continue.

"WHY the _hell_ won't you leave me alone? What exactly do you want? And seriously, do you not realize that if we touch, I could kill you?"

He doesn't have a reaction to any of that. He's still awake isn't he? Suddenly, he hops off of the bed and walks towards me. "First off, I do realize that you could kill me, and I think if we really put our minds to it, we could think of a way around it." He wiggles his eyebrows. "Second, I won't leave you alone because you never gave me the chance to get what I want and third," He stops in front of me, "You know what I want," he breathes.

I gulp. This is so not good. Oh hell, I know what he wants. At least I'm pretty sure I know—the memory of him saying he wanted to kiss me a few nights ago comes to mind. But that's not what I want. I don't even like Gambit that way. And up until now I never figured he thought of me that way. Now meaning the past few days of course.

I firmly take three steps away as he watches, amused.

"No! I'm not putting my mind to—_that_—with _you_," I say nervously, "and I'm not giving you any chances to get anything, so just stop all of this! Stop calling me and talking to me, and flirting with me, because it's not going to get you anywhere, ok?"

Maybe, _maybe_ that would get him to leave me alone. Ha. Sure.

He grins while looking me up down and nodding appreciatively. "Ooh, bossy…" he wiggles his eyebrows once, "I like it."

I smack myself in the forehead. Again. Before I have the chance to respond, however, he's heading for the door. "I hope you don't mind, but this mansion is large and I think I might get lost a lot," he tells me as he's walking backwards, "So I think I might ask the Professor if _you_ would show me around." He smirks at me as he steps out into the hall. "That is, if you don't mind."

"Um—I do MIND!"

But the door swung shut before I could finish my sentence. I could go after him and yell at him some more, but instead, I go for the more desirable option and once again fall face forward onto my bed.


	3. TheChapter Where Rogue Shows Remy Around

The next day I wake up with a sense of dread. Maybe it was due to the fact that it was storming heavily (and noisily) outside, or it could have been because I knew that we had double training sessions with Wolverine today, or of course it could be the obvious reason.

Last night at dinner the Professor had asked me if I would be so kind as to show Gambit around. I had of course declined at first and asked if anyone else could do it but then I was met with a small lecture about how I should put aside past differences and not hold old grudges…The Professor thought I just didn't like Gambit because of the whole Magneto thing.

Well, that may be one reason, but I really just wanted to get away from his pursuit of me. Why oh why he wants me I will never know. I mean, I will admit, Gambit is not a bad looking guy, he could probably have any girl he wanted, so why me? The only thing special about me was the fact that he just couldn't have me. Even if I wanted him to have me, he couldn't.

And on top of that, he didn't seem to understand why I wouldn't want him. I'd never thought of him that way, so no, I wasn't about to start now. I didn't think of _any_ guy like that, it was just too dangerous. It would be setting my self up for heartbreak, and I wasn't going to let it happen.

This is too much to think about first thing in the morning. I already made the decision last night: I would be perfectly nice to Gambit today, I would show him around as quickly as I could, and if he flirted with me, I would just try my best not to lose my temper.

The thunder clapped loudly, making me jump. I roll out of bed and stumble my way to the bathroom. I had been mad last night and it had been hard for me to get to sleep so my usually cheery morning self is gone in place of a grumpy and groggy one.

Half an hour later, I step out of the bathroom, showered, dressed, and groomed for the day. It was just turning eight thirty as I exited and usually the sun would have long been up by now, but when I glanced out of my window I'm met with the sight of hard rain and insane winds.

After staring worriedly out at it for a few moments, I quietly make my way downstairs.

Turns out there was no point in my being quiet. The noise level that hits me when I enter the kitchen was ridiculous. Don't ask me why everyone chose not to be their normal selves and sleep in on Saturday, I have no idea.

Tryin my best not to glare at Kitty as she talks loudly about her purchases to Tabitha, I squeeze past Scott to grab a bagel out of the refrigerator. After closing the door, I glance over to see Gambit leaning casually up against the counter, munching on an apple.

Except he doesn't seem to be innocently eating an apple…or maybe I'm just paranoid. He keeps both eyes on me as his tongue darts out and slowly licks his way up the curve of the apple. My eyes widen—he is not seriously—maybe I really am paranoid…

He closes his lips over the fruit, sucking softly before pulling back and continuing to lick it slowly. I jerk my gaze away and hide the blush that is creeping up my cheeks. I glance around—or course no else sees any of this. Poor apple…

"Rogue!"

I jump, startled. Jean smiles at me, not noticing. Then she looks concerned. "Hey…you ok? You look a little flushed…"

I swallow hard as I try not to think about Gambit's tongue. That turns out to be harder than I thought it would be. "I'm ok…" I try to assure her, "What's up?"

She smiles at me again—I swear I think she does it so much to make sure we don't forget how pretty she is. "Just want to let you know, there won't be any training sessions with Wolverine today."

"Why not?" I ask, not entirely concerned—just happy that we have a free weekend.

Jean leans a little closer. "Well, the Professor told me and he didn't say why—but between you and me, I got the feeling that Wolverine has gone on some sort of mission."

I nod. Yep, now I'm really not concerned. At least not as much as Jean was expecting me to be. I get a free weekend for the first time in a _long_ time. And also, I had a feeling that when she said 'between you and me' that it was really between us and everyone else in the room.

As Jean walks away, I glance over my shoulder at Gambit again. He still has both eyes in my direction, studying me. Or more like studying my ass! I quickly turn to face him so he can't see it anymore and he meets my gaze and grins.

Ooookay, keep calm. Keep calm. Keep calm. He can't bother me, I am in my safe place in my head, and when I am in my safe place, he can't bother me. Ok, deep breath and—

"Do you want to get this 'showing you around' crap outta the way?"

He pushes himself away from the counter and walks up to me. "The sooner I get to spend time with you, ma belle, the better." He purrs at me.

I look around quickly to make sure no one heard this. PLEASE don't let anyone have heard. "Shut-up, someone's going to hear you!" I tell him quietly.

I hear him mutter something about a secret love affair as he follows me out of the kitchen and out into the empty hall. Stopping there, I turn back to him.

"Ok, that was the kitchen—this is a hall," I tell him as if he's a five year old, "Down the hall there is a dining room and across from that-"

He holds his hands up as he interrupts me. "Wait a second—I will _never_ remember that. I think you're going to have to show me."

I stare at him. "Are you serious? I have to show you every room in the _mansion_?"

"Yes." Just as he speaks, a loud clap a thunder sounded out around us and the hall was lights up with the flash from lightening.

Well, that was fitting.

…

An hour later, after showing him the whole of the downstairs, I was already tired of him, but I was actually proud of myself; I had kept my cool. Though he hadn't flirted as much, he still had a lot of other annoying personality traits.

Like the way he would keep me in one room for so long, pretending to be extremely interested in a painting or a window or a table, but when I said something about leaving him be, suddenly he wanted to go to the next room. And also, the way I could feel his eyes on me, constantly, but when I glanced over at him, he was looking the other direction and then pretends to catch _me_ looking at _him_.

As we trudge up the stairs, I make sure to stay next to him rather than in front of him. I had caught him looking at my behind more than I liked today.

I try to block him out as he starts talking about making me dinner, but his voice seemes to get louder.

"No, Gambit, you're not makin me dinner. Ever."

"Enough with that, now, call me Remy. And I am going to make you dinner. Or would you just like some dessert?" He added suggestively.

I gasp and Gambit—or Remy—looks over at me. "You _almost_ said something not perverted! You should be proud of yourself." I clap him on the back just as we make it to the landing.

He smirks at my remark and turns down a different path than the one I had planned on taking him.

"That's the girl's bedrooms; you don't need to go down there!" I tell him, but I'm sure that I'm going to be ignored.

Of course I turned out to be right in my assumption—Gambit—I mean Remy kept walking. Oh no—

I walk after him. "Don't go in my room."

He turns to face me as he keeps walking backwards. "But I'm going to need to know my way to your bedroom, don't you think?"

"Um, NO!"

I figure it must have been the storm outside that caused something—I'm pretty sure it was a tree branch—to smack into the window next to me, distracting me long enough for Gam—Remy to slip into my room.

Groaning in frustration, I follow after him. When I enter, I find him searching through my underwear drawer.

Clenching my fists tightly, I march over to him and jerk my panties out of his hand. "WHAT are you doing?"

"You should buy more red. I like red."

Glaring at him, I throw the panties back into the drawer and slam it closed, barely missing his fingers.

"Get out of my room!" I tell him just as he jumps on my bed, rolls over, and lands on his feet on the other side.

"But that's ok, you don't have to buy more…I'd still like you even if you didn't have any clothes on at all."

I glare in reply to his mischievous grin.

Dingbat—I mean Gambit—I mean Remy looked my bed over. "So this is where Rogue sleeps…And also where I'll be sleeping, soon enough."

"And also where you'll be murdered if you don't get out of here!" I snap at him.

Completely ignoring me, he jumps onto the bed again and starts trying out different sleeping positions. Rubbing my temples, I head to the bathroom, all the while begging God for mercy. Slamming the door shut behind me, I glare at my own reflection while taking a few aspirin to ease my headache.

Ok, just another hour…At least that's what I was hoping for. The downstairs took an hour, so the upstairs should take the same amount of time, right? OH HELL, I forgot our abnormally large basement. The jet hanger, the danger room, all that crap.

After taking a moment to steady myself, I finally step out of the bathroom, rubbing my eyes.

After a moment, I look over to see Remy still stretched out on my bed, reading my journal.

You know that saying, So mad I could see red? Well it's true. When you're _mad_, and I'm talkin _mad_, you really do see red. And also little red spots.

Screeching in fury, I dive at him. Obviously, he isn't expecting this, and the book is knocked out of his hands and onto the floor. I can't help myself; I take a swing at him and would have hit him if he hadn't blocked it. He reaches up, grabs me, and rolls me over onto my back and attempts to pin me down.

"Hey, you're pretty when you're mad, you know that?" He asks as I struggle against him.

This only infuriates me further and I bring my knee up to his gut.

"Oof!" He rolls off of me and onto his back.

Figuring he hasn't had enough, I reach over and shove him off of the bed.

"Ow." He says from the floor.

I bend across the bed and grab the journal from the floor next to him, smacking him on the leg with it before bringing it back up. Just as I'm about to put it back into my drawer, I do a double take.

Uh-oh. Oh hell.

Well…I guess I made a mistake…

The journal that I'm holding is the one that I bought to replace the journal that I'm currently writing in. It only had two blank pages left and I had figured yesterday at the mall that I should just go ahead and buy a new one. Then when I had gotten home, I had thrown it onto my desk. I quickly flip through the book that I now held to find that yes, every page was blank.

I stare at it, appalled before racing around the bed to Remy.

"Remy, are you ok?" I drop to my knees next to him.

He shakes his head slowly. "No," he gasps, "I…I think you broke a rib."

I gape at him. "_What_? Are you serious? Oh…I'm so sorry!"

He shakes his head again. "No, its ok, I like a girl who can fight."

I sigh. "Maybe I should go get some help…"

"No, no, what you should do is come real close and-"

I stare at him. "Your rib isn't broken, is it?"

He stops and stares back at me for a moment. "No."

I smack him upside the head before getting back to my feet and stomping to the door.

"You know, you are really, really, _really_ annoying!" I tell him angrily as I jerk the door open, "Seriously, I don't know how you have gone this far without someone trying to murder you."

He easily hops to his feet and follows me out into the hall. "Well, I have come close a few times."

I decide to ignore that.

"Ok, well I am not showing you the girl's bedrooms, or the boy's—the only other thing up here is the library, but I'm sure you don't really want-"

He cut me off. "I would _love_ to see the library."

Keep my cool, keep my cool, keep my cool, keep my cool…I can do this, I know I can. I am a strong woman. At least that's what I keep telling myself as I walk to the library and ignore whatever he is saying to me. Just another hour, that's all I've got left.

The library is usually empty on the weekends, but today with the storm, I don't know what to expect. Remy strolls on in past me as I peak in. Somehow while I had been showing him around today I had managed to avoid being in the same room for too long with anyone else. It's not that I don't want to see anyone else; it's more because I don't want any of them to hear Remy's continuous flirting.

I _really_ don't want to think of what they would say about that.

Relieved when I don't immediately spot anyone, I silently follow Remy inside as he begins wandering around. As we walk along one of the rows of shelves, I continue to ignore whatever he's saying to me again. It's really been the only thing that's gotten me through the day.

"You're not listening are you?"

And with that, I'm brought back to the present.

I shake my head at him. "I think it's best if I just don't listen to you anymore."

"Why?" He stops walking in favor of leaning back against a shelf and focusing on me.

Though I just want to get this over with, I stop also and turn to face him. "Because you-" I try to think of a way to say it differently than I already have, "you say things you shouldn't. You do things you shouldn't, and you can't take no for an answer."

He looked like he was about to respond when I cut him off.

"No, let me rephrase. You can't seem to understand that it isn't going to happen. That it's physically impossible for it to happen. That there is no way that it can _ever_ happen."

He looks at me with a different kind of expression than I've ever seen him use before. What was that? Oh…it's serious. Oh no…

"Rogue-"

But before he begins he's interrupted by the appearance of Jean and Kitty. Judging by the school books that Kitty is holding in her arms, I figure she must have opted to do her homework which was another odd occurrence on top of all the other odd things that everyone had been doing lately. I can't figure why Jean was with her.

But forgetting why they were there—I sure was glad to see them. See, serious conversations weren't really my thing, and I had gotten the feeling that was where Remy had us headed.

"Hey Rogue," Kitty says happily. "Remy." She acknowledges him with a nod that he returns. "You two having fun?"

What to say to that? No, I wasn't having fun, but I couldn't say it had been a boring day.

Suddenly Remy didn't look so serious anymore. A smirk came over his face as he spoke. "I can't speak for Rogue, but I'm having a great time. So far we've explored her bedroom, looked at her panties and rolled around on her bed." As the two girls gaped at him, he added as if in after thought, "that was my favorite part of the day."

The blush that came over my face and neck was almost painful. And amazingly, like the idiot I am, the only thing I could think to say to this was:

"We didn't ROLL, we wrestled!"

This of course did nothing to help the situation. Judging by the grin on his face, Remy seemed to enjoy my response, Kitty gawked at us, Jean wasn't gaping anymore, but her eyes were round as saucers, and I was left stuttering a defense for the stupid thing I had just said.

"I-I mean—we uh—I was trying to hurt him! He read my journal!"

Remy shook his head and leaned a little towards Jean and Kitty. "She's lying—she just wanted to get me on my back."

As my blush worsened I heard Kitty giggle. Oh great, now people were getting amusement from my embarrassment.

"Shut up swamp rat!" I clench my fists at my side, ready to take a swing at him. Again.

"What about the panties thing?"

I turn to Jean as she asks this embarrassing question. But Remy jumps to answer this before I get the chance.

"Rogue couldn't help herself."

My mouth drops open in horror at this. "WHAT? I could—I COULD help myself!" I yell at Kitty and Jean. "He just ran in and started grabbing them!" Their eyes got wide at this so I added quickly, "Out of my _drawer_."

They both blinked at me. I could understand that all of this was a lot to take in so quickly. The way we were acting, Remy and I probably looked like we had been smoking something. Or else like he was extremely horny. Which I was sure he was. Ok, and _that's_ a subject to never think about again.

…Where was I?

Oh yeah.

I glance over at stupid to find him shaking his head at Kitty and Jean as if to tell them that I was lying. Not thinking about it, I deliver a swift kick to his shin. Or at least I tried to kick his shin. Instead, he jumped out of the way and my oncoming foot ended up kicking the shelf behind him.

My mouth formed an O shape as I tried to take in the pain in my big toe. Why. Me.

I stumble backwards but am caught by Remy a.k.a. the one who had caused my pain in the first place.

Wow, who knew hitting your toe while it was still in your shoe could hurt so badly? Of course, I had kicked the shelf pretty hard since I had been aiming for Remy whom I really wanted to hurt right now.

Jean and Kitty rushed forward asking if I was ok, my toe was screaming in pain and still through all of this, I noticed Remy's arms snaking their way around my waist. Was he seriously trying to feel me up while I was in pain? Of course. To anyone else it would look like he was just helping me stand up, but after having that look into his head, I knew him too well.

The touch was uncomfortable for me, probably because I hadn't been touched so much in a very long time.

"Rogue, are you ok? You didn't break it, did you?"

The feel of Remy's breath, hot on my neck, made it hard for me to concentrate on what Jean was saying. I shake my head slowly.

"No…No, I'm ok, really, don't freak out."

My toe still hurt, but this was making me nervous. He was close, too close. His whole torso was pressed into my back, his arms around me, the smell coming off of him was a mixture of leather and apples and—I had to get away.

I pulled away from him, and he let me go—I had half expected him to hold onto me. Gingerly stepping on my foot again, I turned to the three of them.

"I'm ok, thanks…but I'm gonna go lay down if you don't mind."

Hurting my foot actually gave me an excuse to get out of showing Remy around. At least something good came out of hurting myself. After declining Jean's offer to help me to my room, I limped out of the library, all the while trying to forget how much I liked the smell of…apples.


	4. The Chapter Where They Go To The Movies

"Come on Rogue, come to the movies with us, it'll be fun!" Kitty pleads with me over lunch the next day.

I'm really not into another mall like trip with her so soon but I'm considering it. Jean, Amara, and Tabitha were also coming along so it probably wouldn't be as unbearable as the mall was.

My toe had healed in an hour, all of my homework was finished, and Logan was still gone so there wasn't any training sessions later, so I couldn't think of any excuse to give her, had I wanted to.

Well, I was feeling a little cabin feverish if ya know what I mean.

Finally I sigh. "Ok, I'll come…what are we going to see-"

But Kitty's already bouncing away. "Great, I'll go let the others know!"

I watch her go with an eyebrow raised. Why is she so happy I'm going? Not that I'm complaining—it's nice to know that someone wants your company. But usually Kitty was more excited by shopping than movies. Oh well, at least it would give me a chance to get out of the house…and away from the 'R' word.

Speaking of the 'R' word, I hadn't spoken to him since yesterday when he had caused me to hurt my toe. I had mostly kept to myself, up in my room but I had seen him during supper last night and breakfast this morning actually conversing with other people.

It was during these times that I noticed something. No one seemed to be as annoyed by him as I was. Or, in other words, he wasn't trying to annoy anyone else as he annoyed me. I also noticed that he didn't flirt with the other girls. He seemed to be a perfect gentleman with _them_.

Which was odd to me. As I've mentioned many times before, I'd seen in his head and I _knew_ that he was a womanizer. I knew he loved to flirt with women, I knew he loved to be with women (if you catch my drift) and I knew that not flirtin with every pretty woman in sight had to involve some restraint on his part.

So I don't get it.

And really, I should stop thinkin' about him; I find it to be unhealthy.

Like yesterday, when I had more contact with a human being than I had had in a long time. A small part of me enjoyed that, but it was unhealthy. Unhealthy in the sense that I could kill someone, of course.

Thinking back on it, the last time that I had that much contact with someone was Remy himself when the buttmunch had grabbed me and sprayed me in the face with poison gas so that he could kidnap me. What a _lovely_ memory that is.

Oh no…I didn't even realize it: I agreed to go to a movie with Kitty. This meant going to some mushy gushy chick flick where the acting's terrible and people meet and fall in love in a day, just to be torn apart the very next day, just to be reunited a week later where one of them dies.

Ok, so maybe not _all_ of them are like that. Just the last one I had been made to sit through.

Oh fudge, I'm gonna have to find my umbrella since it's still raining. Speaking of the going out in the _freezing rain_—is that really safe? Had the other girls really thought that through? Oh well…maybe we'll start skidding out of control and I'll get some entertainment out of that.

I'm kidding, of _course_.

Three hours later, I'm innocently walking down the hall, headed towards my bedroom when I'm grabbed by the arm and jerked into the bathroom.

I had half expect for it to be Remy, but it turns out to be Tabitha who had jerked me in, surrounded by Kitty, Jean, and Amara.

I feel like an animal trapped in a cage the way they're looking at me. Oh no—Kitty's eyes are bright and excited, Jean's holding a curling iron, and I can see mountains of make-up on the counter.

"I am not-" I start before Jean cuts me off, trying to calm me down.

"No Rogue, it's ok, we just want your opinion on some things."

I stare at them skeptically. No, no way am I getting sucked into this. Before I get the chance to turn and run, Kitty jumps in front of me holding up two shirts.

"Which one do I look better in, Rogue? Red or blue?"

I sigh. "Blue."

Kitty grins brightly. "Ok then, you can wear the red."

She flings the shirt at my head and ducks behind the shower curtain to change. Grumpily pulling it off of my head, I inspect it. It was red, long sleeved, and low cut. Smart. Give the girl with poison skin the low cut shirt.

"Kitty I can't wear this."

Tabitha comes over to me and looks it over. "Come on Rogue, you've got the stuff, flaunt it a little!"

I stare at her. "No."

"Aw come on, Rogue," Amara says while applying some mascara to her lashes, "You would look nice. At least it's not as revealing as Kitty's."

As if to prove her point, Kitty came back out into view and I was immediately glad I had told her she would look better in the blue, because if I hadn't, I would be holding that shirt. Geez Louise, I thought mine was low cut.

"Who are you trying to seduce?" I ask her with an eyebrow raised. I have to wonder: isn't she cold?

Kitty grins at me. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

No, I really wouldn't. Really. But I don't have the heart to say this to Kitty who's skipping over to look at herself in the mirror.

Jean's busy holding her hair up and turning her head to see it from both angles as she speaks. "Should I wear my hair up or down?"

Before I have the chance to answer, Tabitha jumps in front of me, holding up two tubes of lipstick. "Which color?"

Wow, I feel so out of place here. But I want to make an effort so I pick a color for Tabitha, tell Jean to wear her hair down, and then run behind the shower curtain to change. Well, at least they aren't trying to pile make-up on me, or trying to curl my hair. Just…trying to dress me.

And after slipping it on, I find that the shirt is actually kind of comfortable. I'll just wear my blue jean jacket over it to cover the more ah—revealing parts.

"So, Rogue, can I ask you something?" Jean asks as I emerge from behind the shower curtain.

"Uh, sure," I respond worriedly. She has that concerned/curious voice.

"I know it's none of my business, and you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want, but I was just wondering-" Ok Jean spit it out—"is there anything going on between you and Remy?"

If I had been eating, I would have choked. Or if I had been walking, I would have tripped. Or if I had been punching Remy in the head as I would have liked to have been doing at that moment, I would have missed. But, as it was, I was just standing there but I knew shock (and probably a touch of anger) had to be on my face.

"NO!" I might have said—I mean screamed—that too loudly. "WHY would you think that?"

Jean looks amused. "Well, it's just that he was so…flirty in the library yesterday…"

"You noticed that, huh?" I say miserably. I had hoped by some insane (and freaky) stroke of luck that she and Kitty had gone deaf for some inexplicable reason when he had said all that. Or at least that was what my retarded fantasy had been.

"Rogue, like the _whole institute _has noticed." Kitty informs me.

I can feel myself paling dramatically. "The whole institute?" I ask weakly.

Kitty nods. "Yeah…well, except for Wolverine." Thank. God. "Yeah, we even have a bet going."

My heart stopped. "WHAT?" I hiss.

Amara elbows Kitty in the ribs and mutters at her to shut-up.

Yeah, like they were going to stop me from finding out now. I take a step towards Kitty and ask again. "_What_ are you talking about?"

Kitty's looking over my shoulder at Jean. I jerk my head in that direction to find Jean and Tabitha innocently looking into the mirror, messing with their hair. Turning back to Kitty, I wait for an answer.

"Um, well…" she sighs, "we kind of saw something between you two even before the library yesterday—and we figured that eventually you two would you know—hook up or whatever…or at least half of us did. Clearly he wants you, and you're resisting." I stare at her. "And well…if you eventually _do_ end up giving in to him…I would win, like, a _lot_ of money."

"Kitty!" Of course she had bet against me. Now I was curious to know who believed in me. Those—PEOPLE that I _thought_ were my friends. This was just pure evil. EVIL! "That's-" But I'm so mad and trying to keep it bottled in that I can't think of the right words to express my anger. "You-" I try again. But finally I just settle for: "…Who bet that I wouldn't…you know?"

Kitty bit her lip as she thought. "Um—let's see…Jean, Scott, and Amara bet that you wouldn't end up together." Only THREE? "Tabitha, Kurt, Bobby, and myself all bet that you would sooo hook up."

I stare at her angrily. "KITTY, in case you _forgot_—I'm _poisonous_—I can't 'hook up' with anyone."

Kitty waves a hand at me as though I'm being silly. "There are ways around that."

Why do I keep hearing that? It's starting to become seriously annoying. And WHY had Kitty of all people thought about it? And why was everyone else in the bathroom being so quiet? Guilty I guess. And why aren't I yelling more? Oh, that's right, I woke up at five this morning and had hours to myself. See? I told you it worked.

But it didn't work _that_ well.

I decide to ignore her comment and instead turn to the other girls. "Thank you, Jean and Amara for believing in me. Don't worry; you will be winning this bet." I turn back to Kitty. "And how much money did you all bet anyway?"

Kitty's head drops. "Um…one hundred seventy five dollars…"

I feel my mouth drop open at this. They must be pretty darn sure I'll be giving in to Gambit to bet on that much money. "Kitty!"

"We all put in twenty five dollars." Tabitha, who was now leaning against the wall behind Kitty, tells me.

I run my hands through my hair, trying to keep my temper in check. Ok…this is stupid. I shouldn't get too mad at the stupidity of some of my friends. Though hearing this makes me like Jean, Scott, and Amara a lot more, I'm still a little ticked that none of them have mentioned this before now.

Then I have to wonder if Remy knew about this. Since it is technically gambling I can see him in on it. And also, it would annoy me if he were in on it, and so that would just make perfect sense.

But I had to ask. "Does Remy know?"

After they all shake their heads no I'm a little relieved. So I ask them nicely to not mention any of it to Remy. I can just hear his voice in my head telling me that he wanted it and my friends wanted it so it must be right. Then it turns into an unpleasant picture of him diving for my face so I mentally swat the picture away and bring myself back to the present.

All three of them agree not to say anything to him so my mood is improved just a tad. But not enough to stay in this bathroom any longer than I have to.

After fishing my jacket out of my closet and buttoning it up so that my little show of cleavage is hidden, I go down to the garage and wait by the car for them. I figure that I'll have to wait forever for them, but it isn't too long before they finally come out. Kitty eyes me wearily when I hold the keys for a moment, only to pass them over to Jean. I guess she's remembering the return trip from the mall. Ha.

The ride there is unusually quiet. And weird. I know they must be feeling guilty because they offer the music choice to me.

So I decide to torture them and turn on some sports station that I have never listened to in my life. Some man is on screaming his head off about football. I have this mental picture in my head of this guy—red all over and screaming with spit flying in every direction. Apparently he thinks he knows what to do with the team better than the professional coach does.

Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I'm satisfied to see Tabitha and Kitty with pained looks on their faces. Jean and Amara must know what I'm doing because they look amused.

After I grow bored with that, I turn on the Spanish station. I have absolutely no idea what anyone is saying, but the music is happy and actually pretty good. So I turn it. Soon after that I flip on the country music station. Coming from Mississippi, no, I'm not ashamed to say that I like it. But I knew Tabitha and Kitty hated it.

But we finally arrive at the theater and sadly my reign of terror is over. Ah well, at least my mood is a lot better.

Kitty and Tabitha practically dive out of the car. That is entertaining.

It being the weekend, it's no shock to find half of Bayville in the movie theater. We stand in line for popcorn for fifteen minutes. Kitty seems to be enjoying herself, and has apparently gotten over her guilt, seeing as she's now yammering on and on. She's talking so fast, I barely catch what she's saying half of the time, so I end up just ignoring her.

Twenty minutes after we arrive, we finally get into the theater. Kitty seems to have bought the tickets before hand so I still have no idea what we're going to see. But whatever it is, it doesn't seem very promising. Two other people are sitting when we come in. Oh boy.

After we all settled in on the top row, Jean turns to me.

"Rogue, are you okay?"

I have to stop and think for a moment to figure out what she's talking about. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine…"

"I'm sorry about the whole bet thing…" and she really sound like she means it. "I didn't think about how it might hurt your feelings…We shouldn't have done that, I'm really, really sorry."

I smile lightly at her. "Ok…thanks."

"I just don't want you to think that we're trying to make you get with Remy or anything…" She narrows her eyes towards the floor. "What-Is that the guys?"

I close my eyes and bang the back of my head against the seat. Suddenly it all makes sense. Kitty's voice in my head begging me to come with them tonight is at the forefront of my thoughts. Kitty making me put on this revealing shirt. KITTY'S BET.

I open my eyes and jerk my head at her. "Are you trying to _set me up_?" I hiss angrily at her.

Kitty jumps up and runs away.

I have half a mind to go after her and STRANGLE HER, but then I figure that if I did it here in public, I would get caught.

"Rogue, I swear we had nothing to do with this," Jean is telling me apologetically.

I turn to see Scott, Kurt, Bobby, and Remy making their way towards us. By the looks of things, Kitty has also set up Jean and Amara (with Bobby).

OK, I am going to be ok. I am going to be fine. Jean and Amara are victims of Kitty's scheme too. But at least they like their dates. And at least they can touch their dates. Now I've gone and depressed myself.

Remy of course slips into the seat next to me. Scott takes Kitty's vacated seat next to Jean, just as Tabitha starts passing the tickets out.

I glare down at the stupid ticket and try to make out the name in the semi-dark room.

"What's jiggly?" I hear Kurt ask from a few seats down.

I lose it when I realized the movie was 'Gigli' (pronounced GEELEE). And Kurt had called it jiggly. I almost fall out of my seat I'm laughing so hard. And when I say almost, I mean I completely fall out of my seat, holding onto my stomach.

My action (and howling laughter) causes the rest of the group to bust out laughing, except for Kurt, who's looking confused. That only spurns me on more. And of _course_ Kitty has dragged us all to see what people are calling the worst movie of all time. That usually would have ticked me off but I suddenly find it hilarious.

I also find it to be extremely funny when the two other people in the theater get up and tell us to be quiet. They don't look too happy about that.

Soon the others have quieted down and I'm still on the floor. I also find that to be amusing.

Finally I slump back into my seat, just as the previews are starting. I glance over at Remy and see that he's fighting not to start laughing. I almost lose it again. Clamping a hand over my mouth, I force myself to look anywhere else but at him.

Kitty had snuck back in and is sitting as far away from me as she could. Jean and Scott's hands are already inching towards each other. Tabitha is looking bored. Those two people down below us are gone. Ok, thinking of other things is helping; I'm starting to calm down a little.

Then I look back over at Remy to find him silently shaking with laughter. OH NO—I snort loudly into my hand before biting down on it to control myself.

There isn't even anything funny anymore but we'd become so hysterical it's hard to control ourselves now.

Ten minutes later, after a lot of staring at my hands, I calmed down some. I fought hard not to look back over at Remy, whom I can still hear snickering. I don't even think how odd it is that we're the only two laughing and especially with it being well, the two of us.

It felt good though, I felt good. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time.

Whew, it's hotter than a donkey's behind in here. That's probably my fault, for laughing so much, but I can't say it isn't worth it. Though it is the last thing that I planned on doing this evening, I shrug out of my jacket and lay it over my lap.

Maybe it's just my self consciousness, but I feel eyes on me. Glancing sideways, I find Remy looking me up and down. His adam's apple moves up and down as he swallows and I feel my face burn before focusing back on the big screen.

_Kitty_.

I wonder what I can do to her later to pay her back. Shaving her head while she's sleeping seems like a good idea. Or maybe I can set her up with the stupidest guy I can find. OR, I can burn all of her clothes. Or maybe I can snap her phone in half. Or maybe I should stop trying to ignore Remy's staring because he does not want to stop.

"Stop starin at me!" I mutter quietly at him without taking my eyes off of the screen.

He's quiet for a moment and then—"You're wearing red…I told you I liked red. Is this for my benefit?"

_Kitty_.

I am going to _hurt her_.

"NO!" I yelp and grab my jacket and fling it back on. I don't care how hot I get.

Everyone turns to look at us except for Jean, who's still in the seat next to me. She must have heard the whole thing. I was starting to like her a little more.

"Kitty—may she rot in hell—made me put it on. I did _not_ put it on for you."

"Uh-huh, whatever you say."

He's trying to bait me, and I ain't gonna fall for it.

"But you should know," he leans close and I can feel his breath tickle my ear as he speaks, "seeing you dressed like that—in that color—it makes me want to throw you down and-"

Next to us Jean spit out whatever she had been drinking from her cup, ending Remy's train of thought. I lazily grab some napkins from my cup holder and hand them over to her while continuing to stare at the screen.

Maybe I should leave? No—those thoughts are crushed when I remember that I would have to walk home in the freezing rain.

So I'm stuck for two hours watching this horrible movie which I soon see is about a criminal lesbian, Ben Affleck pretending to be tough, and a retarded guy who actually turns out to be the only half likeable character of the movie. It's so horrible, I can't believe it.

It's so boring I might just….

…

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep until I wake to someone gently shaking me. I wave the hand away and mutter at them to shut up before snuggling closer to this nice, warm pillow.

When did the theater get pillows, anyway? And when did pillows become warm? And when did pillows grow arms?

My eyes snap open at this stupid train of thought. When I realize that I'm leaning on someone, I jerk away in alarm and jump out of my seat…only to fall straight on my behind.

I'm still blinking sleepily, trying to figure out what happened when Remy reaches down and gently takes my gloved hands in his and pulls me upright.

Oh, now I get it. Wow, I am slow when I first wake up. I must have fallen asleep, leaned on Remy when I was sleeping and wait—where was everyone else?

I voice this question to Remy, my voice still thick with sleep.

"They didn't want to wake you so I told them I would drive you home."

Though I have the image in my head of Kitty insisting to Remy that he bring me home, I'm too tired to think about it too much. And also too tired to be mad. Oh well, I'll get her back later.

After shrugging lazily at him, I follow Remy out to the car, dragging my feet the whole way. I find it odd that he isn't speaking much but I ain't complaining.

We drove for a few minutes before he decided to speak. "Rogue, can I ask you somethin?"

Of course he has to get me when I'm half asleep. I really don't care at the moment. I sigh. "As long as it's nothing perverted."

The corner of his mouth lifts slightly. "Ok…I was just wonderin…why do you think that it's physically impossible for you to have a relationship with anyone?"

Ok, now I'm awake. I turn to stare at him. "Because I have poison skin." I thought that was obvious.

He nods. "So, you think that relationships are all about the touching? And I don't mean that in a perverted way," he adds quickly.

Oh no…serious conversation. I really do not like serious conversations. I'm starting to get nervous. "Well…yeah…I can't imagine that anyone would really be satisfied if they couldn't hug or kiss or…do anything else with the person they love."

"So…you don't allow yourself to love…" It was more of a statement than a question. He looks to be thinking to himself. But that's the end of the conversation for me. This is getting way too personal.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," I tell him flatly.

I half expect him to continue anyway but he falls silent. After a few more minutes he apologizes.

"I'm sorry, I just…Even if you can't touch anyone, Rogue, it ain't right that you don't get love."

Since when did love become part of this? I REALLY do not want to talk about love.

"I agree with you," I tell him quietly while looking out of my window, "but that's just the way it is."

The rest of the ride was thankfully, silent.


	5. The Chapter With A Rubber Donkey

Well, that was a weird dream.

I roll out of bed and start my early morning routine while remembering the freaky dream I just awoke from.

For some reason I had been trekking through the jungle—Kurt and Kitty had been there and we'd been chasing Remy with big pointy sticks. I snort quietly when I remember that part. Then Remy had turned into a giant tiger and started trying to hit on me. Yeah, like I said, WEIRD.

But of course, tigers and people aren't meant to mate and he ended up nearly killing me with his giant claws and teeth. The oddest part of it all was that while he was in this tiger form, he was still talking in his normal Remy Cajun voice.

Ok, time to get my mind off of _that_.

The hot water feels good on my skin as I step into the shower. I stand for a few moments, just to enjoy the warmth before I start shampooing my hair.

It's Monday, my least favorite day of the week. I really don't care much for school anymore, not that I ever really did in the first place. But since the coming out of mutants, it hasn't been a fun place to be.

I've always been able to keep my temper in check though (something I have had to practice a lot lately it seems) but I know I won't be able to last forever. This is my senior year though; so I'll be free from it soon enough.

But there's something that I'm dreading more than school today.

I plan to go and talk to Professor X today. According to Kitty, she says that the whole institute is betting on Remy and I 'hooking up' as she puts it. I didn't ask, and I'm sure the Professor has nothing to do with the bet, but I know that he must have heard something. I just want to make sure he doesn't get the wrong idea. Remy and I are _not_ hooking up.

Ugh, that reminds me of that little talk we had in the car last night. I had been half out of it, why did he have to start with me then?

He acted like I was crazy for not letting myself get too attached to anyone. I think it's the safe, sane thing to do. No one around here seems to understand that I can kill from a simple _touch_. I don't want to kill anyone, so I don't get too close.

And come on, Remy's a man; he should know that for guys, yes, the touching thing is a big issue.

Whatever, I'm done thinking about it.

I spend the next half hour completely and blissfully alone. And then I go downstairs.

I nearly freak out when I realized that someone is in the kitchen. The sound of clinking plates being pulled out of the cabinet wafted out to me in the hall, along with a delicious smell. I glance down gloomily at my un-gloved hands before heading back up stairs to retrieve my gloves from my room.

Oh well, so much for my morning alone.

And it didn't get any better. Once I enter the kitchen I find Mr. Doom—I mean Remy pulling biscuits out of the oven. For some reason I find this sight to be entertaining and have to stifle a snort.

He hears that and turns to me while grabbing a plate off of the counter as he goes. "Morning, chére," he says as he walks over to the table and puts the plate down. "Made you breakfast."

I start. "You what?"

Walking over to the table I see that sure enough, he has made me breakfast. Hey, how did he know that French toast was my favorite—_Kitty_. I. Am. Going. To. Hurt. Her.

After I eat my breakfast.

Wait, no! I can't eat this! Wouldn't that be like, inviting him in or something? I don't want to get friendly with him because I know he won't stop at friendly. But…it smells so good…and he had even went to the trouble to cut up some strawberries and sprinkle it with powdered sugar…But I really shouldn't.

But I really want to.

I wish he would stop trying to be nice to me.

Finally I sit down. If I just don't think about who made it, that might make it ok. And maybe if Kitty doesn't find out that I ate it, that would—wait a second…are Remy and Kitty working together on this? That's got to be it. Seriously, someone should cage that girl up.

Maybe I can just eat this and pretend I don't like it. I pick up a fork as Remy walks away to start buttering the biscuits…Why is that still funny to me?

Or, I know! I can tell Kitty later that I hated the French toast. Or that it made me sick. Or that—HOLY CRAP this is good!

Remy must have heard my MMM sound and turns to grin at me. "You like it?"

I stare down at the plate. It's so good, but I just _can't_ do it. I shake my head while cutting off another piece. "No, it's disgusting…" I say in a strangled voice before eating a huge bite off of my fork.

He chuckles softly while turning back to his biscuits. Haha…Ok, seriously, it's not funny. "I've never met anyone like you, Rogue." He tells me.

I don't know what to say to that so I don't respond. Instead, I continue eating this erm—disgustingly good breakfast.

"I told you I would make you dinner, but, I was up and a little birdie told me that you liked French toast, so…"

So I was right. _Kitty_.

Finishing at the counter (I can't make myself say biscuits again) he walks over and sits in the chair opposite me, tilting it back on two legs. "But I could take you to dinner. Tonight, if you like."

I swallow and shake my head. "No, that's ok." Isn't it a little early for this? Was he _always_ in the mood? He must be a robot or something.

"Are you sure? I'll treat cha' real nice."

I shake my head again because my mouth is full, but he continues talking anyway.

"We could go do something else if you like. We could go see another movie, or walk to the beach-"

"I thought it was supposed to snow today?" I glance out of the window but all I see are cloudy skies. At least it isn't raining anymore…

Remy shrugs and drops his chair back down onto all four legs. He leans forward and looks at my half eaten breakfast before looking back up at me. "You know, I don't think it's a coincidence that you like _French_ toast."

I stop, my fork halfway to my mouth. "What?"

He smirks at me. "I'm a French Cajun; you know that…I think you like that food so much for an entirely different reason."

"Oh, you're gross!" I snap at him before continuing with my food…Was it just me or did it taste different now?

He leans back and stretches his arms out before clasping his hands behind his head. He stares at me for a long while. I try to ignore him, but it's hard to ignore someone who is so openly staring at you. When I'm nearly finished eating, he finally speaks again.

"Rogue, I think you should know, I really do like you, I'm not just trying to get in your pants."

Oh lord. "Ok." That's the best come back I can think of.

"I really do."

"Okee dokee."

"Really."

"I said ok."

"And I said that I like you."

"OK."

"See, this is just fun."

Now it's my turn to stare at him. "WHAT? This is not fun!" It's been downright torturous.

"I like arguing with you. Like I said before, you're cute when you're mad."

I try not to look mad. "That's…lovely." I say sarcastically.

"So are you."

I drop my fork and let it clatter to the plate. "Stop it!"

"Never."

I'm starting to believe that. This is going too far. I stand up quickly, bang my legs on the table, and sit back down as pain shoots through my knees. Oh this is just turning out…just like every other encounter I've ever had with Remy turned out.

But now I'm starting to get pissed off. Embarrassed by my own clumsiness, I make to stand up again, missing the table this time. But, I'm me. And when I'm me, and when I'm frustrated I turn into some ridiculous looking clumsy mess.

And I probably look just so as my foot got caught on the leg of the table and I start falling, face forward. I put my hands out in front of me to brace my fall but what do you know, I'm caught before I hit the ground.

I wish he would stop doing that.

Oh no, contact! CONTACT! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO—

Remy pulls me much closer than is necessary, drawing me towards his chest. This time we're face to face and the amount of touching is _way_ too much for me to be comfortable with.

His arms are around me, one resting on the small of my back, the other somewhere around my ribs. I try not to touch his chest, but that's just where my hands end up. At least I have gloves on.

Oh wow, he's warm. Probably because he was sent straight from hell, being so evil and all. Ok, my thoughts are just random today.

My face burns—why, I don't know—but I make to push away from him, thanking him shakily in the process.

"Uh…thanks…for that..."

But even though it's impossible, he pulls me even closer to him, until my chin bumps into his chest. His gaze is smoldering as he asks me in a whisper, "Chére, is this making you nervous?"

Hell yes it's makin me nervous, but that's obviously what he wants to hear. "I don't want to hurt you," I tell him, and it's true. Most of the time anyway.

He tilts his head to the side a little, his eyes bright. "Is that the only reason you would be nervous?"

I gulp. "Y-yes," I say shakily. Shakily because I'm nervous. Of hurting him. With my skin.

He snakes a hand up my arm (good thing I'm wearing long sleeves again), slowly trailing his fingers up the length of it before he starts moving them in little circles.

OH, that feels…BAD! Horrible! And…and…and…

"You can't hurt me unless I'm touchin your skin, yeah?" He tells me while I feel his hand on my back starting to mimic the patterns his other hand is making. "Well I'm ain't right now…but we're touchin…I thought you said you couldn't ever touch anyone?"

He's just being mean now. "I—you can't—stop doing that!" I finish lamely.

He ignores me. "We could make it work."

Oh good grief. This is ridiculous. "Let me go." I push against him. He pulls me tighter.

Today he smells like strawberries. I suppose because of the ones he cut up for my breakfast. Is he trying to smell like a different fruit everyday or something? Ok, back to the present.

He's quit rubbing my arm in favor of wrapping his arms more securely around me. Glaring at him, I push at his chest again.

"Let me go, you—you—rubber donkey!"

He stares at me for a moment before busting into laughter. "What-" he asks me between bouts of laughter, "what is a rubber donkey?"

I continue to scowl at him. I'm failing to see the humor in this situation. "YOU ARE!" I tell him angrily as I push against him again. Thankfully, he lets go in favor of slumping against the table as he continues to laugh.

Rolling my eyes, I stomp out of the kitchen and back up to my room, all the while trying to get my hands to stop shaking.

Out of anger. Because he made me mad. NOT because I was nervous.

…

Eight hours later, I'm knocking softly on the door to the Professor's study. My day had gone alright. Save for the incident in the kitchen, it was quite nice. Remy seems to have disappeared, which is welcoming. I completely ignored Kitty today who actually keeps asking me why I'm so mad. Seriously.

As the weatherman had predicted, snow had started to fall around lunchtime, thick and fast. I'm glad, I liked snow.

Professor X's voice drifted out to me from the other side of the door. "Come in."

I slowly open the door and step inside. "Hey, Professor, can I talk to you?"

"Of course, Rogue, come on in," he tells me in his serious voice.

Closing the door behind me, I walk over and stand in front of his desk. I don't want to sit; if I can help it, this isn't going to take too long.

"I just wanted to let you know, if you hear anything…odd about me and er, Remy," I tell him while staring intently at the curtains behind him, "it's not true, none of it. People—and by people I mostly mean Kitty—think that there might be…something going on, but I promise there's not…Really."

I finally look at him. He's watching me with his normal, serious face on, his hands folded on his desk.

After a few moments, he nods. "I see…But, if you don't mind my asking, why does Kitty think there is something going on?"

I knew he was going to ask that. Leave it to him to get every detail. I sigh. "Well…Remy sort of innocently flirted a little..." Wow, I'm really stretching the truth here. "And Kitty might have heard it and gotten the wrong idea."

He continues to stare at me. I hate that stare; I know he knows that I ain't sayin the whole truth.

"Rogue, is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

Damn. He does know. And probably not from reading my mind either. I quickly shake my head.

He lifts a brow but doesn't say anything. I really wish he would stop looking at me like that.

After what seems like forever and a half, he speaks. "Alright, thank you for letting me know about this…rumor."

Yep, he knows. But I nod anyway. I turn and head for the door but was stopped halfway there.

"Rogue, I…I don't ever look into anyone's mind without their permission, and I don't think it would be right to tell anyone about what I read in someone's mind, either." I nod in agreement, though I ain't sure what he's gettin at. He continues. "But in case you were wondering, Remy thinks…highly of you."

…

I grumpily make my way down to the danger room for our Monday training session, the Professor's words echoing in my head. _Remy thinks highly of you_. Why? Why does Remy 'think highly' of me? And why do I care? I don't. This is stupid.

Professor X wouldn't lie, that much I'm sure of. Remy telling me that he liked me at breakfast was also ringing annoyingly in my head. But still, I don't care about that either. He was just saying that to annoy me. Or to get me to do…things with him, that would end up with him dead.

But I DON'T care.

As I step onto the elevator, Kitty bounces in happily, followed by Remy (who is not bouncing happily) just before the doors close. I choose to ignore both of them in favor of glaring at the wall.

"Hey Rogue, what's up?" Kitty asks me while annoyingly smacking on her gum.

I turn to tell her to shove it, but stop when I'm caught with the sight of Remy grinning widely. I lift an eyebrow suspiciously at him. At this, he drops the grin and starts whistling innocently.

I don't want to know. Oh wait, maybe I do. Or more accurately, I should know. But I really don't want to start another long, annoying, and random conversation with him, especially when Kitty is standing right there. She would probably love it.

The elevator dings and I step off quickly, trying to walk ahead of the two of them. I expect Remy to run to catch up but he doesn't, and I turn suspiciously again to find the two of them a few yards away from me, whispering to each other.

They stop when they see me looking.

What the _hell_? I cannot believe they are doing this right in front of me! It's no secret who and what they're talking about! I take a menacing step towards them but before I can think of lunging at the pair, Kitty grabs Remy's arm and drags him through the wall.

I'm left standing in the empty hallway, clenching my fists in fury. Kitty is going to PAY.


	6. The Chapter Where Remy Gets Hyper

Oh. My. God.

Remy is hyper. I'm scared. This is weird, and I don't know how to stop it.

Well, I guess I should start from the beginning. After our training session, I had gone back up to my room to find a dozen red roses (which I suppose was the reason for the suspicious behavior in the elevator) along with a note that made me blush to the roots of my hair. But I'm still working hard to forget that part.

It was as that point that Remy burst into my room without knocking and asked if I would make him some coffee. After I had 'politely' told him to go get his own damn coffee, he had sprinted off and I didn't see him for the next twenty minutes. I took this opportunity to take the roses, along with the note, and put them outside the guest room that I knew Remy was staying in.

I also took the opportunity to start my homework.

As soon as the pencil touched the paper, however, my door busted open again to admit the same guy who kept busting into it, Remy.

I dropped my pencil and started ruffling my hair in frustration. "WHAT do you want-" I started yelling hysterically just as a he shoved a Styrofoam cup under my nose.

And in that cup turned out to be—you guessed it—coffee.

"I've already drank one—it was good, I got you one too so you could try it. And I also got myself another one," he said all of this very quickly before holding up his humongous cup of coffee.

I looked a little closer at him. He looked a little strange. "Are you okay?"

He simply laughed before taking a huge swig from his cup. And that's where it started.

I had set back to my homework, intent on getting it done but every time I would really get into it, Remy would say something else to me despite being told to leave several times.

"Your bed is really comfortable," was the first thing he said to me.

Annoyed, I turned to find him laying spread eagle on my bed. Why do I keep finding him lying on my bed? I was not comfortable with this image. After he saw me turn to look at him, he burst into laughter for no apparent reason (at least none that I could see) and rolled straight off of it, knocking my lamp off of the bedside table in the process.

Jumping up angrily, I rushed over, but there was no point, my poor lamp was already broken. "You doofus!" I yelled at him only to be answered with his barking laugh. But I'd had enough.

I grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the door while he continued to laugh. At least I _tried_ to drag him to the door, but the guy must weigh a thousand pounds or something. I got halfway there and got too tired to keep going.

Rushing into my bathroom, I took three aspirin before coming back out. He was no where to be seen. Well, that was good.

But just as I started walking back towards my desk, he jumped from behind my closet doors, screaming.

I screamed bloody murder.

He fell into a heap on the floor, howling with laughter as I was left glaring murderously at him.

If only Professor X could see him now. Maybe he would start reconsidering his decision to let him stay here. Yeah, right. It seems lately that whatever I don't want, that it was going to happen, no matter what.

I stared angrily at Remy on a ball on the floor, laughing his head off. Had he never had coffee before? I'd never seen anyone react this badly to caffeine or sugar-or whatever it was that was making him so hyper. Probably a mixture of both.

But I have no idea how to stop it, or how to get him out of my room. I could just pack up my homework and go do it in the library, but Remy would undoubtedly follow me there and I don't want a repeat performance of last time.

So I'm stuck with a hyper Remy and a pile of homework. I leave him on the floor and stomp back over to my desk. He lays there laughing forever and I'm actually able to get a lot done.

And then he turns on the music.

It has to be the radio because I'm pretty sure it's Britney Spears. But I can't really be sure since I've never listened to that. But it's definitely something fast and bouncy and before I know it, he's hopping around my room. I don't want to say he's _dancing _because that would just be an insult to anyone who could ever dance, but he's doing something with his body.

Something scary.

I can't watch. This is getting to be too much. I do my best to drown it out, but it's impossible.

Finally I stand up to go over and BREAK the freaking stereo, when something slow (by another singer that I don't recognize) comes on. Remy flies (seemingly out of no where) and grabs me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pinning my arms down at my sides.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" I yell while struggling in his grip.

He gives me a solemn look. "We're dancing, be quiet." And he starts swaying us back and forth. I feel ridiculous, but at least he doesn't look like John Travolta on crack anymore.

_Grease_. Still not sure how Kitty roped me into watching that one.

"No!" I tell him while continuing my struggles.

"You need to learn to have fun, Rogue," he tells me and keeps on swaying us, "trust me, it's fun."

I groan in frustration. "This is NOT fun!"

"Then lets do somethin' fun."

"Yeah, we could take turns stabbing you."

He shakes his head. "Non, that doesn't sound like fun."

I roll my eyes. "Would be for me," I mutter under my breath.

"I know; let's make out." He's already pretty close to my face but he leans closer.

I stare at him. "You're stupid."

He smirks. "I have an idea, be still." And he leans even closer.

"NO, I WON'T!" I scream at him and start to thrash around, dipping my head down into his chest to get it away from his face.

He stumbles, and I take the opportunity to stomp as hard as I can on his foot.

I can hear him let loose the air in his lungs as he releases his grip on me and tumbles backwards onto my bed. He looks up at me with a pair of big eyes. "Why did ya do _that_? Remy was only trying to kiss you!"

I can feel my eye start to twitch as I glare at him. "I DON'T WANT YOU TO KISS ME!" I yell at him loudly. "And I don't think I've mentioned this enough, but YOU CAN'T!"

A noise on the other side of the door draws my attention for a second before Remy reclaims it.

"I think you do want to kiss me and you just won't admit it. This hurts by the way," he tells me while rubbing his shoe.

I gape at him. Why? Why? WHY? "NO I DON'T! I think you just can't take no for an answer!"

He thinks for a moment and then shrugs. "You're right, Remy can't. But you're lying, you do want it…Or do you just not see it for yourself yet?"

"How many ways is there for me to say it before it gets through your thick skull? I DON'T want you! Accept it!"

He stares at me for a second and then stands up. "No." He starts towards me and I back away.

Oh no, this was so not what I wanted. I could always drain him. But I would rather try everything else that I could before I had to do that. It ain't an enjoyable thing for me, and I do NOT want his perverted thoughts in my head again.

I stop and put my fists up. "Stop, Remy, don't make me kick your ass."

I tell him this as menacingly as I can, but his eyes light up. "You want me to fight for it, baby? Then let's fight." He shrugs out of his jacket, throws it across the bed, and puts his fists up too.

Wait a second, does he really want to—I quickly dodge his fist (though I can tell he's not swinging too hard) and aim for his gut. He steps back quickly and makes a grab for my arm.

I'd expect it though and pull away quickly just as I bring my foot up to kick him in the shin. He jumps a foot in the air, dodging my kick and lands back on his feet neatly.

Well, I didn't expect that we wouldn't be hitting each other at all. We start circling each other and unfortunately he starts to speak again.

"Admit it!"

I don't trust him, so I don't take my eyes off of him for a second. "There's nothing to admit," and I grab my text book off my desk and chuck it at his head.

It misses him by inches, and then he did something I didn't expect—he dives at me, grabs me, and tackles me to the ground. I swing wildly at him, nicking his jaw at least twice while all the rest of my punches land on his chest and shoulders. I could swear that he likes it.

Somehow he pins me down. Don't ask me how he managed to do that, I'm too busy feeling completely furious at him to wonder how he did it. Both of my arms are held down on either side of my head and he wraps his legs around mine to keep me from kicking.

All I can do is glare furiously up at him. This is ridiculous.

"Ok, now that I have your attention-"

"Go to hell!" I snap at him while twisting my arms in an attempt to get them free.

He smirks—oh how I'm starting to hate that smirk—and tightens his grip on me. "You wanted me to fight for it, so I did. Now it's your turn. Admit that you want me to kiss you."

My glare worsens, though I'm not sure how I manage that. I thought I was already as mad as I could get. Let's see…I argued with him, that didn't work. I yelled at him, I've told him repeatedly that I wasn't interested, I fought with him, I stomped on his foot, and none of it worked. Looks like all my options are out. Save for one. I guess I'm gonna have to drain the idiot.

I hate saying it, but it's all I've got left. "Fine, Remy," I manage to grind out, "kiss me!"

I wish I'd had a camera when I saw the look on his face. He looked like I had smacked him. Which I had…But if he wants to kill himself, I say let him. Let him kiss me and then I can tell his dead body that I told him so.

He stares at me like I've grown an extra head for a few seconds before finally lowering his head down to mine, till he's hovering an inch away from my lips. "Be very still," he murmurs quietly.

Of course I'm going to be still. Later when Professor X asks me why I killed Remy, I'm going to be able say that I didn't, Remy threw himself at _me_ and killed himself.

He tilts his head to side and carefully lowers his lips to mine. And then—um…nothing happened. Save for the fact that I'm now being kissed by Remy LeBeau. But just wait, my powers will kick in any second. Mmhmmm…

Any second now…

It will happen.

Ok…there's something _wrong_.

After a few moments he pulls away and stares at my shocked face. "Well, that was good for me. How about you?"

I continue to stare at him. "WHAT—HOW—what the hell?" I finally spit out.

"Oh, I guess I should have told you," he pulls away and let go of my arms. He reaches into his pockets and pulls out a tube of chapstick. "I put some of this on when you weren't looking."

I stare in horror at the chapstick and then back up at him. "You used CHAPSTICK?" I screech loudly, "You stupid OAF! You could have KILLED YOURSELF!"

He shrugs and climbs off of me. "No, I titled my head so that I couldn't touch you with my nose. We were _perfectly_ safe." Grinning, he leaps to his feet and holds out a hand to me.

After glaring furiously at it for a moment, I smack it away and stand up. What was I supposed to say to him now? I had let the moron kiss me when I thought it would drain him. But he thinks that I just _asked _for it. Oh NO.

"Get out of my room, NOW," I tell him in a dangerously low voice.

He ignores my tone and takes a step towards me. "You don't want to try it again?"

I glare at him for a moment, trying to steady myself before I march over to the door and fling it open. "Get OUT-"

I'm stop short when my attention is drawn to the sight on the other side of my door. Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Tabitha, Bobby, and Amara are all standing there, looking like a bunch of deer caught in the headlights. Bobby and Kitty, who must have had their ears pressed to the door, fall into my room but shoot back up and look at me, wide eyed.

Apparently they had all been listening. This did nothing to help my mood. Oh no, that means that must have heard me say—

"Rogue, we um, uh…" Kitty starts stuttering in panic, "We were just um…here to say that—RUN!"

And they all took off in terror. Oh good grief.

…

I'd been thinking about it, and I couldn't think of anything really horrible that I could do to Kitty to pay her back for her 'favors' that I wouldn't get into a lot of trouble for….

So I stole her ponytail holders.

Mwuahahaha…Oh yes.

And then, just to make sure she would never be able to find them, I flush them down the toilet one by one. As I was flushing, I realized that I had never seen Kitty without her hair up. How strange…didn't she always have a headache? I never wore my hair up and I always had a headache. But I guess I have something that always makes that happen.

Losing her ponytail holders is gonna hit her hard. But that ain't not my only plans for her. Oh no, I have to think of something worse.

Just as I start thinking about it however, I hear a knock at my door. I'm going to ignore it, because I figure it's Remy. Again.

After I had…_kissed him _yesterday (it still pains me to think about that) I'd kicked him out of my room—and he'd actually stayed out. But he had, however, brought those stupid roses back and set them outside of my door. So I took them and put them back outside of his door. This morning when I got up, they were at my door again, so I returned them.

And this really has nothing to do with anything, but I feel that I should mention that also after that _incident_, Evan had asked the Professor if he and the Morlocks could come and stay in the mansion while it was snowing. Of course Professor X had said yes. Not many of them had come with Evan though, just a handful and some of the kids.

"Rogue, its Jean and Scott, can we come in?"

Oh, ok, at least it ain't what's his face…oh yeah, Remy. I walk to the door and wave Jean and Scott inside.

"You have some roses out here," Scott tells me as they walk into my room.

I ignore this and close the door. "What's up?"

Scott and Jean look at each other and then Scott pulls his hand from behind his back. He holds up a pair of underwear—not just any underwear though, tighty whities. I lean away from this and give them a strange look.

"We found these in Remy's room," Scott tells me while waving them around. I wish he'd stop doing that.

"EW!" I look at them both incredulously. "WHY did you bring them HERE?"

What in the world is wrong with these two?

Jean jumps forward and grabs the underwear from Scott. "To show you this!" And she holds the underwear open for me to see.

OH GROSS. There's a huge skid mark in there! WHY are they showing me THIS? I know that Remy is dirty MINDED, but come on, this is just plain out gross. And why do they keep touching it? This is disgusting. And…wait a second…OH MY GOD.

"Are you two in on this stupid bet thing too?"

They both look at me with wide eyed, guilty faces.

"Kitty is trying to win by shoving us together, and you two are trying to win by showing me…this." I wave a hand at the stained underwear.

Jean sighed. "Ok, Yes! We did do this…that's just chocolate." She crosses her arms and looks at Scott. "I told you we should have come up with something better."

I look closer at the underwear. I feel a lot better about looking at them now that I know that it's just chocolate. And also that they aren't Remy's. I mean, seriously, tighty whities?

"Wait a second," I say as this thought crosses my mind, "Whose underwear is this?"

Scott lets go of the undies and drops his head. "They're mine," he says miserably while covering his face with his hands.

Okee dokee, SO did not need to know that.

"Ok, well, you two should know that I don't like Remy. Not that way, not in any way, so you don't have anything to worry about. You're going to win the bet." I tell them while trying to forget about the stupid underwear.

"But…" Jean looks confused, "yesterday you told him to kiss you."

My face burns as I respond. "Yeah, I only did that because I was trying to drain him. But it turns out he put on chapstick so that I couldn't."

Scott's face appears again from behind his hands. "That worked?"

I shrug. "Apparently so."

Jean nods. "Then I guess you should know that Kitty is working hard to get a reservation at that French restaurant downtown. For you and Remy," she adds, but there isn't any need.

I clench my fists. _Kitty_. "And how does she intend on getting me there?"

"She's going to act like she's apologizing for setting you up on that movie date the other night. Taking you to dinner is supposedly the apology." Jean informs me.

Oh, lovely. That girl must not have anything better to do all day than try to set me up with Remy. Or else she just really wants that money. Either way, flushing her ponytail holders will not be her only punishment.

"How do you know this?" I ask them curiously. "Surely Kitty didn't tell you."

Scott and Jean grin at each other.

"We have a spy on the other side," Scott tells me excitedly.

That's it. They are all going WAY too far with this. I know we didn't have school today (because of the snow getting too thick) and that things have been very slow around here lately with the Brotherhood not acting up on a weekly bases anymore, but this is getting ridiculous. They're all having fun while I'm stuck in the middle being tortured by Remy and Kitty!

"Who?" I have to know. At least I don't only have three people on my side.

"Kurt." Scott and Jean say together.

That's a surprise. Kurt usually went along with whatever Kitty did. I've actually wondered about those two before, but I never tried to THROW THEM TOGETHER.

Anyway…

…

An hour later we're all down in the dining room, eating dinner. I sit in-between Jean and Scott who had told me that they would keep me away from Remy. Whatever. It's weird, but I don't mind getting away from Remy for a while.

But he keeps staring at me. And so does Kitty. Actually, Kitty is across the table sending a death glare at Jean and Scott, with her hair down and all over the place. That's also weird.

Ororo is looking at us all with a raised eyebrow, but she doesn't say anything.

"So, Rogue, what have you been up to lately?" Ororo asks me. "I haven't really talked to you much-"

And then the door opens to admit Wolverine.

The guy looks like he's been through hell. Everyone falls silent as they take in his appearance. Dirty and sweaty and I don't want to think about how he got the blood spattered on him. Whoa…I don't know where he'd gone, I hadn't even asked. Though I'm sure if I had, I wouldn't have gotten an answer. It wasn't my business.

Professor X directed his wheelchair over to where Wolverine stood. "What did you find?" he asks quickly.

Well gee, shouldn't he ask the guy if he was ok? Or offer him some water, or tell him to sit down?

Wolverine holds a bag up for us to see before laying it on the table. "That's what I found. Trask is at work again."

Trask…Wait, who?…Oh yeah, Bolivar Trask, the guy who made the Sentinels…Oh, that couldn't be good.

Wolverine speaks as Professor X opens up the bag. "That's several devices, pills, and handcuffs…they all work to suppress mutant powers."

Oh, that's horrible. Why can't this guy just get a life and leave mutants alone? Doesn't he get bored just thinking all day about how to mess with mutants lives? Why doesn't he just—oh NO.

My eye catches Remy's. He's looking at me and his eyes are bright and excited; he looks like a kid on Christmas morning.

Crap.

I'm so distracted (and horrified) by this, I almost miss what Wolverine says next.

"Charles," he says in an ominous voice, "They knew I was there. I led them in a different direction, but they know where I live. I guarantee it's only a matter of time before they show up here."


	7. The Chapter Where There's an Explosion

The plan was set. It only took about ten minutes to set it but it was set nonetheless.

The first step was to get the Morlocks and their children out of harms way. They all piled into the jet and Professor X agreed to take them to a safe place, mostly just to save himself. Haha, ok, that last part was just my imagination running away with me. Or else just the uncontrolled random thoughts bouncing around in my head.

The second step was to change into our uniforms and prepare ourselves for whatever might happen. No one really knew what to expect. Wolverine said that they were coming, but he didn't say when.

The third step was to send Storm out to fly overhead to see if she could see anyone coming.

And finally, the last step was to set ourselves up in strategic places all around the mansion and the grounds of the mansion.

Wolverine started to make the set-up; I didn't ask any questions or make any complaints. Out loud. Ok, that's a lie.

Wolverine thought it would be a good idea if he and I could grab one of the guys, I could drain some information out of him, and then we would know exactly what to expect from this attack. It was a good plan, but…as silly as it sounds, I hadn't finished my dinner yet. And I was hungry.

So that added up to me being a tad irritated with everything around me. I tend to get a little cranky when I don't eat.

But there were several holes in this plan, and I pointed this out to the ticked off Wolverine. How was I supposed to find them, drain them, sort through the thoughts in my head to figure out their deal, and give time for us to come up with a counter attack all at once?

I couldn't, as I pointed out. Wolverine looked mad at me, but I didn't care. Or wait, I think he always looks like that. I dunno, I can never tell with this guy.

All of this planning is makin me dizzy, but it is good to finally get my mind off of—um…

ANYWAY, it's been months since we've been on any sort of mission, so while it's still dangerous and we probably have a lot to worry about when we're done, it's strangely fun to be doing our jobs again. Now to begin, all we have to do is wait for Storm's ok. Flying overhead, she's bound to see anything coming on the ground (or up in the air).

Kitty is currently frantically searching for a ponytail holder, without success. That's fun to watch. Jean and Scott are whispering to each other in the corner. I don't want to know. Amara and Tabby are looking excited; Evan's standing next to Beast and both are staring out the window and keeping a sharp eye out for anything. Kurt is rearranging his uniform, Bobby is punching at an invisible punching bag in the air and Remy—is staring at me.

I almost groan in frustration.

He comes over and stands next to me in silence.

Hm…at least he's being quiet. Which is odd. I chance a sideways glance at him. Oh snap, there's that serious face again.

"Rogue, do you hate me?" He asks quietly.

I'm completely taken aback by this approach. After getting over this, I think it over. Of course I don't hate the guy, but I can't just say that. Especially not like that. He would see it as an invitation. On the other hand, I'm sure that if I told him that I hate him, he would take it as a challenge, and chase me even faster.

I bite my lip. " Let's see, I hate that you can so easily get under my skin…I hate that you keep trying to be nice to me after I'm already mad at you…I hate that Kitty tries to push me together with you…and I hate that I have to say this, but no, I don't hate you." I stare down at my shoes, I don't know why. "But I don't like you either," I add on so that he doesn't get any ideas.

Finally I look back up at him. His eyes bore into mine.

He stares at me for a few long moments before speaking "You hate what Kitty's been doing?"

Surprised me again. I nod. "It's extremely annoying."

He looks thoughtful for a few seconds. "Did you take her hair ties?"

I grin cheekily at him but don't reply.

He nods once. "Nice."

The crackle of the communicator that Wolverine is holding ends any conversation or activity that everyone is engaged in. Everyone leaps to attention as Storm's voice comes out at us.

"Logan, you there?"

"Here," is Wolverine's scratchy reply.

"I'm not seeing anything suspicious. If someone's coming, they aren't anywhere near us. I'm coming home."

Well. That's a let down. Uh, not that I was looking forward to strange men coming in and attacking my friends and my home. I just want to fight. Ok, don't judge me but maybe I was looking forward to it.

I suspect that half of the group feels the same as I do. But no one says anything to confirm this.

The communicator in Wolverine's hand crackles again—

-and that's when about twenty guys with big guns burst through the windows.

Oddly enough, my first thought when this happened was worry over the curtains. I happened to know that they had been _very_ expensive, and were going to be hard to replace. Plus, it had taken forever to get them up there straight.

They hadn't seen this coming, so I assumed that Evan and Beast must have turned away from the windows when we were all listening to Storm. A shudder goes through me when I get a look at these people. They're completely dressed in black and wearing black masks. At that, I have to wonder how Storm hadn't seen them in the snow.

As one of the guys races towards me, I rip off my gloves quickly and dive as he starts shooting. Great, they came heavily armed and trigger happy. This guy is so distracted trying to kill me that he doesn't notice when Remy comes up behind him and swings his staff at his head. It lands with a loud crack and I wince. That is going to hurt in the morning.

I have to move away quickly again when he falls, unconscious towards me.

About two seconds after that, all of their guns are yanked away from them, courtesy of Jean.

After letting out a _yippee_ in my head, I run and delivere a hard kick in the chest to a guy trying to corner Bobby. He falls, wheezing onto the stairs and doesn't get back up. I hope I didn't break one of his ribs. Then again, maybe I do.

Distracted by the loud explosions coming from Tabitha's direction, I just barely manage to dodge an arm flying at me. After missing me, he hits the wall and curses. I quickly grab his other arm and twist it up behind his back. I spend a few seconds frantically trying to pry his glove off of his hand, but (don't ask me why) I can't get it just right.

I have to jump away when he breaks free from my grip and thinking fast, I duck under his arm again and grab a vase (another expensive item) from a nearby table and come back up and smack him across the face with it.

Amazingly, it doesn't break. But it sounds like his face did. I hit him with it again for good measure, just to make sure he would stay down. It breaks that time.

Then I see stars as something hits me in the side of the head, _hard_.

I swear if that was someone's fist I am going to drain every bit of life force they had out of them. It doesn't help when I fall and hit the ground hard too. Bringing a hand up to my temple, I can already feel a bump forming.

Well this is just swell.

Great, now I'm probably going to end up exploding from something that Tabitha throws. Or melted by something from Amara. Or…rained on by Storm. I giggle as this strange thought goes across my mind.

"Rogue! Rogue, are you ok?"

Kitty's worried face swims into view. Her hair is still a mess and all over the place. I crack a grin at this but it only seems to worry her more. Then she runs off. Well, I guess she isn't _that_ worried.

I make to stand and I'm a little dizzy, but it isn't so bad. I lean against the wall and look to see where I can jump into next.

Blinking a few times to get my vision straight, I see that the fight is already nearly over. Oh yeah, we kicked butt, as always. There's not many more people still fighting—oh wait, Scott just blew a guy through the wall, that's one less.

Remy is over in the corner fighting with that guy and making it all look so effortless. I see what made Kitty ditch me—several people had jumped Wolverine at once and she and Evan were helping with that problem.

And—ok, I can't help but notice what a big mess the house is in now. Broken vases, ripped up curtains, busted windows and giant holes in the wall is all I see. Oh—and there goes a table across that guy's head (courtesy of Beast). Yes, I know, I'm messed up in the head.

It doesn't take much longer at all for them to finish the rest of these guys off. Half of them are passed out—the other half starts running. Storm flies in as soon as that half leaves in a show of good timing.

"What happened?" She snaps.

Well gee, I think someone is wearing their cranky pants…hm, maybe I hit my head harder than I thought.

"I don't know; they came out of no where," Wolverine replies.

"Is there more coming?" Storm asks, this time in a worried tone.

"Probably, that's why we need to get to them first."

Ah, what?

I'm distracted from hearing Storm's answer to this as Kitty rushes back over to me with Remy in tow.

"Rogue, are you alright?" she sounds panicky. "Can you hear me? Can you see me? How many fingers am I holding up? What's the date?"

I tried to answer many times in-between her questions but just ended up waiting for her to finish. Remy comes up next to me and starts inspecting my bump as best he can without touching my skin. They're both crowding me (and irritating me) and when I try to move away, Remy pins my shoulder to the wall and holds me there.

"Kitty, I can hear you, see you, you're holding up eight fingers and it's February twenty third," I snap. "Remy, get off of me, I'm _fine_."

"Wait, what's wrong with Rogue?"

That was Amara. And now everyone else in the room is turning to look at me. Lovely. At least Remy stopped inspecting me. But he hasn't backed off. Kitty is still trying to look me straight in the eyes as if she would see something wrong in there.

Then it got sooo much better when everyone rushed over towards me. Aw, well…at least everyone cared enough to come see if—ok, no, I can't do it, this is just annoying.

"I am FINE." I say slowly to all of them as they all start crowding around.

"She needs ice," Remy says and Bobby conjured some up out of nowhere and handed it over.

I scowl at him as he rips off a piece of the curtain—not the curtains again—and wraps it up. And apparently nothing I say is going to change anyone's mind. They're all sure that I nearly died.

"I'm fine!" I try again, "I just bumped my head!"

At least Wolverine isn't over here. He's over on the other side of the room talking on the phone. It must have been someone really important because he had that super serious Wolvie face on. You know what I'm talking about.

My attention is brought back to the people around me when Remy gently presses the ice to my head. I wince but don't move away. I couldn't if I tried, not with the way they were all crowding around me.

"Rogue, if you're not feeling well, then you're not coming with us," Storm tells me sternly.

No way am I staying here while they get to go out and have fun. I mean, go out and fight. "I am feeling FINE, I SWEAR!" I sigh and try for a softer tone. "Look, I wouldn't lie about that…and shouldn't someone be keeping an eye out?"

"I doubt there's anyone else coming, Trask doesn't have that many people working for him," Wolverine was off the phone and approaching us. I'm glad because this took a great deal of attention away from me. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is sending some people out to help, and Colossus is going to meet us there." I don't ask why S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing favors for Wolverine. I don't even know what his relationship with them is like. And I honestly don't think that I want to know.

"We need to leave, now." Wolverine turns to me. "You up for it, Rogue?"

I nod and thankfully, that was the end of the discussion.

Jean ran to call the Professor. After all, we need the jet. Wolverine, impatient as ever, takes off on his motorcycle. Everyone sets themselves to tossing the men in black onto the snow covered lawn while Remy takes me into the kitchen and forces me to sit down.

And I don't use the word 'force' lightly either. He actually pushes me into the kitchen and shoves me down into the chair. What a gentleman.

He kneels on his knees in front of me and looks up at my face. "If you're lying about feeling ok, please tell me now so that I can lock you in the closet."

I guess I have to give him points for being honest.

"I'm great, my head is great. Freaking fantastic, I've never felt better." What a load. "Why do you care anyway?"

I wish I hadn't said that. But wait, none of my wishes come true lately, do they? Nope.

"I care, I told you that already." He continues to stare up at me. "How many times do I have to say it before you believe it?"

If I'm recalling correctly, I only remember him saying it once before…and once more in that letter he sent with the roses. Along with a lot of other extremely suggestive things.

We stare at each other for a moment before I awkwardly clear my throat. "Don't we need to be getting ready?" Ignoring the question is the safest route. I think.

He doesn't miss a beat. "We're waiting on Professor X. Would you like some water?" I'm grateful that he actually let me change the subject. Without waiting for my answer, he leaps to his feet and goes to grab a glass.

"Actually," I tell him while standing up, "I'm pretty hungry so I'm gonna go finish my dinner."

So what if it's weird of me to eat before running off to a big battle. I'm hungry.

"I'll get it for you," Remy says before sprinting away.

I stare after him for a few seconds. This is weird…but if he wants to be my maid then I say let him.

It was after Remy brought my food, I ate my food, Professor X came with the jet, and we piled into the jet before Professor X gave us the lovely, lovely details of this mission. And unlike the word 'force' I use the word 'lovely' _very _lightly.

"Their base of operations is in a factory far south of here. That is where they make the devices that Logan found. These people are working to make anything to suppress your mutant genes, so while we're within at least a mile of this factory, you won't be able to use your powers." The Professor tells us in an ominous voice.

See? I told you it was _lovely_.

I force myself not to look over in Remy's direction when he says this. While we're there, I'm going to use everything in my power to stay completely away from him. He'll probably try to jump me, and if he does, I'm going to have to kick his ass for real this time.

Though then again, this will probably be the only time I'll ever get to touch someone else. No, that is dangerous territory; I have to think of something else. Anything else…Kitty's hair looks _awful_.

"They know we're coming so S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming too_. Our_ mission is to find Trask. So to best do this, we'll be separating into groups."

Please no, please, anything but _that_.

"Scott, you go with Jean, Kitty go with Kurt, Rogue, go with Bobby-" Whew, that was close. "-I mean Remy."

AH! Well that just figures. But I can't argue with the Professor…last time I did that he lectured me for an hour.

Ok, so my new plan is to…fight Remy off best I could. This is awful.

"Any more questions?"

Yes, what is WRONG with you people?

It was twenty minutes after that when we landed. And then we had to walk a little ways. I was at least grateful that this place was in the middle of the woods and we had plenty of cover.

Once the building came into sight was when we separated into groups.

Remy and I race around back where he finds a ladder that is attached to the building, trailing all the way up to the roof. Wow, that is high. I don't have any great fear of heights or anything, but everyone's got their limits. That is _high_.

"Ladies first," Remy waves an arm at the ladder and I'm ok with that. Now if I fall, I would fall on him and he would cushion my blow. Excellent.

I am a horrible person.

I don't ask why we have to go up this particular ladder, but I suppose that there's probably an entrance to the building up there. I mean, it isn't like we could just walk through the front door.

Don't look down. That's the smart thing to do. I climb the ladder as slowly as I can. I don't care if it annoys Remy; I am not going to die today. Plus, he annoys me all the time so it shouldn't matter.

It takes three long minutes to climb that stupid ladder. Finally I'm at the top. I want to kiss the roof but don't in fear of looking stupid. After heaving myself over, I turn to see Remy easily lifting himself over and leaping onto the roof. Showoff.

"Ok, good so far," he says while looking at his surroundings, "and there's a door right over there."

I follow his pointing finger and sure enough, there is a door over there.

We begin the trek across the roof when he starts speaking.

"So, Rogue," he says slowly, "if you don't hate me, what _do_ you feel for me?"

I roll my eyes. "Seriously? We're on a mission right now! Be quiet."

"There's no one else up here. And I think you're avoiding the question."

No, I'm not. If I really wanted to avoid the question, I would push him off the roof. I can't believe he wants to talk about this right _now_ of all times. Doesn't he think that I'm just a tad busy at the moment?

"I feel…annoyed at you. That's what I feel. Now can we please concentrate?"

It's quiet for two blissful seconds and then-

"Would you miss me if I died?"

Oh my god. What an awful question. "SHUT-UP!" I snap at him.

"Would you?"

I glance over to see him trying to keep a straight face.

"Sure, I guess."

He grins. Jackass. "Ok, answer this and I'll stop bothering you." This sounds promising. "Say we're on a mountain," Oh brother, "and I'm on one side, hanging off and Kitty is on the other. Kitty has glue on her hands and I have butter on mine, who would you go save first?"

I stare at him. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why do you have butter on your hands?"

He shrugs and waits for my answer.

"You've both been extremely annoying lately, so I'm gonna say neither."

He puts a hand to his heart. "That hurts."

"In fact," I continue, "while I'm up on this mountain, I think I'll cause an avalanche so that you two won't have to suffer the fate of falling from a high place."

"Actually, suffocation is a worse death than falling."

"Oh, really? You want to test that theory?"

We reach the door just as I say this. It's padlocked but Remy (making it look much easier than it is) breaks it off with his staff and opens it slowly. We both look into the building. It's dark and quiet. Probably because there's no one up here at the moment. We can't hear whatever is going on with the others right now, but they're probably already fighting.

Remy steps back and looks me square in the eyes. "In case I do die, I'll miss you too."

Does that make any sense? I don't know. But no one is going to die today.

He looks through the doorway and back up at me again. "And just so you know,"

I don't know how he does it so fast. But in a flash he's thrown down his staff, closed the distance between us, wrapped his arms around me and crushed his mouth to mine.

Oh.

Oh my.

I don't know if it's my shock or if it's…something else, but I've never felt anything like this before. Something inside of me explodes, sending little bolts racing through my whole body. He's close, closer than he's ever been before, closer than _anyone_ has ever been before, I can smell ever inch of him, feel his body against mine, feel the heat radiating off of his body, off of his _skin_.

Everything about him is completely consuming me and before I know it, I've wrapped my arms and around his neck and kissed him back.

His kisses are hot and demanding and it's all I can do to keep up. The thought that this is the person that I swore I would never give in to never crosses my mind. It's _Remy_ and just for a few moments that fact doesn't bother me so much.

My knees wobble and he holds me tighter, one hand trailing into my hair, tangling it in his fingers, the other arm pressing me hard against him.

This is so bad. I should _not_ be doing this.

But it feels too good to stop.

After another moment he pulls away. Breathing raggedly, he presses his forehead to mine and we stand like that for a few seconds.

"I just…wanted you to know that." He whispers to me.

Oh crud, what have I done?

He delivers a swift kiss to my forehead before grabbing his staff and jumping through the doorway.

I stand there for a minute, too lightheaded to move. That was…that was…


	8. The Chapter With Washboard Abs

Remy LeBeau is pure evil. I know, great start, but hey, it's true.

Anyway, Remy LeBeau is evil and I have let him kiss me. _Twice_. Believe me, no one is more in shock over it than I am. I can't _believe_ I let him kiss me. And also that I kissed him back. And also that I enjoyed every second of it.

That's right, I enjoyed it, and I will admit that. To myself. I sure as hell will never admit it to Remy or anyone else as long as I live. I think I'd rather battle the Kraken than ever admit that to Remy. That's right, the Kraken.

If you don't know what the hell a Kraken is, then you need to look it up. Because the Kraken is awesome. That's all I'm gonna say.

And back to the non-Kraken topic of my thoughts: Remy.

For the next three days, I avoid him like the plague. But wait, I guess I left a hole in the story.

With the help of Colossus and S.H.I.E.L.D., we overtook Bolivar Trask's anti-mutant factory. We ended up burning it down, along with everything that was able to suppress our powers inside of it. That's the gist of the story and that's all I feel like talking about it. Oh, and another big gist to the story is stupid Bolivar Trask wasn't there when we got there. So now we're going to end up having to hunt that guy down.

It continued to snow, Evan and the Morlocks came back to stay with us, school was canceled again, Colossus was given a guest room to stay in while at the institute, and we've all started the cleaning up process down in the foyer. I don't know how exactly I've managed to avoid Remy so well, but it seems to me that he's backed off some. Except for the fact that he keeps putting those stupid roses outside of my door, I haven't heard anything from him.

Those roses are really starting to bug me. Why haven't they died yet? I've never gotten flowers before so I'm not sure how long it takes for that to happen. At least twice (sometimes three) times a day I would put them back in front of his door and they would always end up back at mine. I don't want to throw them out because then he would think that I had kept them. And I'm determined to make him see that I don't want them, or him. Of course, kissing him is _probably_ throwing him off a little bit.

And so what if I enjoyed it? I only enjoyed it because I've never kissed anyone before. Or really touched anyone before for that matter.

But never again is it going to happen. We had seen to that when we had burned down the factory and everything inside of it. And it doesn't mean anything that I feel a little touch of sadness every time I think about that. That's just there because…I'll never touch anyone again.

That's just my fate and I have to accept it.

It was stupid of me to ever have had that crush on Scott. For one, he was never into me like that, and for two, it was impossible for it to happen. And it's the same thing with Remy. It was just plain out stupid of me to have kissed him back. I'm just making it harder on myself, and I don't need to do that.

So, to gather myself, I avoid him for the next three days like the plague.

Until those damn roses show up again. I'm getting _really_ tired of having to carry them back. After walking back from dinner one evening, I see them outside of my door, AGAIN. Growling, (yes, growling) I pick them up and stomp over to the guest room Remy is staying in and pound on the door.

I'm going to THROW the roses in his face. I hope these have thorns. Oh good, they do.

I can hear him moving around in the room and a few seconds later, he opens the door.

Oh. My. God.

I think I'm drooling. I know my mouth is hanging open and I must have a dazed look on my face, because I'm feeling dazed.

Remy has opened the door in nothing but a towel. WHY? WHY ME?

He must have just stepped out of the shower because his hair's wet and he's still got little ringlets of water trickling down his…washboard abs. Yes, he has washboard abs. Not that I'm thinking about him in the shower. Or about his abs. He really needs to pull that towel down some. I MEAN UP! UP!

I gulp and force myself to look up at his smirking face. Leaving one hand on the towel, he places his other forearm on the door frame and leans towards me.

"Can I help you with something?"

You can help me get a shrink. Because after this, I'm going to need one. Ok, I'm eighteen, this is normal. Lust is normal. It's a normal human emotion and I shouldn't feel bad about it. My lust has nothing to do with the fact that's its Remy. Yeah, that's a lie.

"You—I—I don't want…" What did I come here for again? "These! Take these!" I finally remember and shove the flowers at him.

He lifts an eyebrow and looks down at the flowers. "These are for you."

"I don't want them," I tell him while determinedly keeping my eyes on his face.

"Would you like to come in?" He changes the subject.

I shake my head. Oh boy would that end up badly. The longer I stand here the harder it's getting for me to not look down at his washboard abs. No! Stop thinking about the abs!

"Please?" He asks me with a pair of big eyes.

"No! Just take these, please?" I shake the flowers at him but he shakes his head.

"Those aren't mine, if I took them that would be like stealing."

"Not if I gave them to you!" I snap.

"Bye Rogue," he tells me.

Wait, what?

And he closes the door in my face.

That was _weird_. I've always been the first to run away from him. He's never walked away from me. He's never ended one of our random, goofy conversations. Really, I'm kind of insulted. He's running away from _me_ now? And I'm still standing here. Why am I still standing here?

I throw the roses at his door and march back to my room, slamming the door behind me.

OK, from now on, his abs do NOT exist. No, even better, Remy does not exist. Neither do his little sly comments, his crooked grin, his flirtatiousness, or his hot kisses…NO! NO! NO! Bad Rogue! No thinking about those things!

I'm messed up. What has he done to me?

Clenching my hair in my fists, I groan in frustration and drop down backwards onto my bed.

He's just…a dent. A little dent that will eventually go away. But wait, dents don't go away unless you fix them. Maybe I need to kill Remy. That would certainly get rid of one problem…while creating butt-load of others.

This is getting so out of control. It's only been a week since he got here and already he's turned my life upside down! It seems like every time I try to run the other direction, I get pulled even deeper without being able to stop it. This whole thing is getting completely out of control and I don't like it.

I have to wonder if Remy is in his room right now (with his washboard abs) thinking about me. Probably not. His life is probably fine. His emotions aren't being pulled in every which direction.

I bet he's getting dressed right now. I bet I should stop thinking about it before I jump off of my balcony.

See what I have come to? I'm sitting here thinking about some guy for twenty minutes straight! I don't do that, that's _really_ not normal for me. Ok, time to think about something else. Anything else.

Surely there's something else.

Other than Remy's abs.

…

I had an interesting conversation with Kurt the next day while we were busy hanging new curtains.

It turned out that Colossus was mister fix it and he had replaced the glass easily. The Professor had hired some guys to fix the big hole in the wall and they were nearly through. He didn't seem upset that we had destroyed his house and not for the first time was I left wondering where Professor X got all his money from.

But back to the conversation I was talking about.

We had been making small talk, nothing too important; it had mostly been about the weather. Until Kurt said, "So…Kitty tells me you've heard about the bet."

I inwardly sigh. I had actually gone half an hour without thinking about you know who. I nod. "Yep."

Kurt wobbles from his position atop the ladder as he leans over to hang the heavy curtain. "Wanna know a secret?"

Hm…it's been a while since I've heard that. "Sure."

"Scott and Jean think I'm secretly working for them and Kitty thinks I'm secretly working for her." He grins down at me as I snort. "Yeah, every time one of them asks me something about what the other is planning, I just tell them."

"What about everyone else that's in on this bet?" I hold on to the ladder to keep it from wobbling.

Down from where I was on the floor, I can see Kurt rolling his eyes. "No one else really cares except for those three. Actually," he looks around to make sure that no one else was listening, "the rest of us have another side bet going. Those three are so crazy; they're the one's running the show, not you and Remy."

"The show?" I lift an eyebrow at him.

"You know what I mean. Anyway, we're betting that one of them is going to lose it at some point and quit."

They've got to be kidding. Another bet? Maybe I can get in on it. "How much money is on this one?"

"We all put a quarter in." Kurt says dismissively.

A quarter? They put one hundred seventy five dollars against me, but the others only get a quarter? I'm starting to feel insulted again.

"OH," Kurt says as though he's just remembered something else, "I forgot to tell you the best part." He hops down off of the ladder and lowers his voice. "Since Jean and Scott think I'm betting with them, and Kitty thinks I'm betting with her, no matter what happens between you and Remy, I get a cut of the money."

My mouth drops open as I gape at him. "_Kurt_, that's just…evil…I love it!"

Kurt eye's light up at this.

"Can I ask you, who are you really rooting for?" I ask him.

He slings an arm around my shoulders and grins toothily at me. "I'm betting for you, sister, of course."

That makes me feel better. Kurt believes in me. But then again, he doesn't know that I'd been making out with Remy four days ago on a roof top.

…

Later that night, I sneak into Kitty's room and loosen the bolts on her bed. I try to keep quiet but I keep breaking out in hysterics when I think about what her face is going to look like when she comes to bed later and lays down—just to have the whole bed collapse.

Giggling insanely, I sprint back down the hall to my room. Only to find Remy standing at my door when I turn the corner, of course. I say of course because it just wouldn't be a normal day if Remy didn't come to bug me at least once. The three days where I avoided him had been weird enough.

He looks me up and down strangely as I tried to smooth my expression and hide my pliers behind my back.

"What have you been doing?" He asks me suspiciously.

I shake my head quickly and walk past him to go into my room. "Nothing, nothing at all." I open the door and fling the pliers in. "What do you want?"

"I was hoping we could talk."

Oh no, serious face. Serious Remy face. Serious washboard abs.

I move to block my doorway. "Ok, what do you need?"

"Can't I come in?"

I shake my head again. "Nope."

He shrugs. "Alright then, I guess I'll just talk right here about how we kis-"

The rest of his sentence is cut off when I grab him by his shirt and drag him inside. He has that smirk on _again_. I swear I think he likes it when I'm rough with him. Or maybe he's just smug because he got what he wanted. Probably a mixture of both. And don't forget to add the abs in that mixture…Wait, that didn't make any sense; not even to my screwed up logic.

I fling him a good distance away from me, cross my arms, and wait.

"I just wanted to say-"

A frantic knocking at the door cuts him off and I turn to open it.

Scott is outside, leaning against the frame and panting. "Rogue! I saw you come in here with Remy-" Jean, who must have been running down the hall after Scott skids to a halt next to him. "We, uh…need to come in there."

Rolling my eyes, I step back and allow them in. It's fine by me. Especially since I don't trust myself around Remy right now. He had proven that he could make me throw away every bit of determination that I had in me. But I'll be fine if he doesn't put his lips near me…or his tongue…or his washboard abs.

I flush as this thought goes across my mind and I force myself to think of something else. Not an easy thing to do.

"Remy," Scott and Jean both greet him as if this were a normal situation. "What's up?"

Remy raises both of his eyebrows and looks at them as if they were crazy. He might not be too off on that assumption. "Actually, I came here to talk to Rogue. She thinks that I won't talk to her in front of other people but she's wrong."

I feel myself paling dramatically. If he tells them about that kiss I swear I'm going to chop his head off. Ok, maybe that was a little dramatic. Or maybe not.

For one insane moment, Scott and Jean both look like they're ready to pounce as Remy steps forward.

"Rogue, I care for you, I like you, a lot. I just wanted to ask if you would-"

"What is going on _in here_?" Kitty's voice is shrill behind me.

She scared the crap outta me. And Jean too, apparently, who shrieked, causing the two guys to startle. I jump and stumble sideways into the door, slamming my shoulder.

_Kitty_.

She phased through my wall! She didn't even bother to knock! What if we had been doing something private in here? Don't ask me what Remy, Scott, Jean, and I would have all been doing that was not for other people to see, I have no idea. But still…she didn't knock. That is not ok with me.

I push off of the door angrily, feeling my cheeks burning. Why do I always have to look stupid when other people were around?

"KITTY!" I shriek at her, clenching my fists at my sides.

But she doesn't even bother to look at me; she's busy staring disapprovingly at Scott and Jean.

"You TWO, out!" She jerks her thumb at the door. "Let these two like, have their time alone!"

Not for the first time that week, I feel my mouth drop open at this. I keep opening and then closing it again, trying to find the right words to say.

"You people are DESPICABLE!" I explode.

No one even looks at me. What the HELL? Kitty on one side and Jean and Scott on the other are staring each other down. Even Remy in the middle, looking back and forth between them doesn't glance my way. _He_ looks like he's enjoying himself.

Groaning, I turn around and start banging my head on the door as Jean answers Kitty.

"Rogue doesn't want time alone! Except from you and your evil _plotting_!"

At least that's true, I think with approval as I continue to bang my head.

"She wants it; she just doesn't know it yet!"

Kitty sounds exactly like Remy. That is never a good thing.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Scott says. I agree.

"You're stupid!" Kitty answers childishly.

"Well you're…smelly!" Ok, now Scott is getting childish.

Jean's turn. "Don't call my boyfriend stupid, you buttinski!"

Oh, that's the perfect word to describe Kitty! I stop banging my head on the door to hear Kitty's answer.

"What the heck is a buttinski?"

I snort, I can't help it. I told Kitty to listen during school, but did she listen to me? Noooooo.

"It means, MEDDLER!" Jean snaps back.

All is silent for a moment.

"Oh," Kitty says, "I am that."

Rolling my eyes, I turn to face them again. Remy meets my eyes and grins. "Rogue," he says to me, "I came in to ask if you would like to go out with me."

I flush again as everyone's gaze turns to me. Kitty is on my left nodding frantically at me while Jean and Scott on my right are both shaking their heads and mouthing NO.

These people have NO SHAME. Just as I'm opening my mouth to answer, Kitty cuts me off.

"I know, I know! Let's flip for it!" She says while pulling a quarter from her pocket. "Rogue, if it lands on tails, you don't go out with Remy, if it lands on heads-"

"NO!" I shout at her. There was no way that i'm going to place my fate on a coin. Especially a coin that Kitty tosses. "Everyone get out!"

Remy takes a step forward. "How about we play for it, eh?" He pulls a deck of cards out of his coat pocket and starts shuffling them with one hand.

I rub my eyes and shake my head. "No."

"Scared?" I hear him ask me and I look up, narrowing my eyes at him. "It would be three on two. I think you would have a good chance. Then again…maybe not." He winks at me.

Grr…He's infuriating!

I'm about to decline again when Scott jumps forward. "We accept!"

I look up at him, startled. "UM, NO WE DON'T!"

"Yes we do."

"NO, WE DON'T!"

If I keep screaming someone is probably going to come up here and find us all like this. But Scott is NOT going to make this decision. I am not going out with Remy. Nope, not gonna happen. Not ever is it going to happen. Never, never, NEVER.

"Rogue, we've got this," Jean tells me assuredly.

"No, no we don't. I'm not doing this."

"Rogue's just scared that if she goes out with me, she'll never want to leave." Remy tells us lazily while continuing to shuffle his deck. "She's also scared of losing. To me. Remy." He grins slyly at me and I snap.

Son of biscuit.

"Fine!" I grind out through my teeth.

Jean, Scott, and Kitty look excited.

"So we're doing this?" Kitty asks.

"We're doing it."

Kitty jumps into the air happily. "Yippee!"


	9. The Chapter Where Someone Plays Go Fish

Why did I agree to this? What the hell's a matter with me? What being possessed me and made me agree with REMY? I'm losing it; seriously, I am going out of my freaking mind. And does anyone care? No. They just want to have their fun and win their money. If Scott and Jean make me lose, they're going on my list.

Remy suggested poker. They all said, yes, yes, let's play poker. But I don't know how to play poker, plus, I know that Remy cheats his butt off in poker, so I made them choose something else. We were going to play spades—but then Kitty said she didn't know how to play that. We were going to play rummy but Kitty didn't know how to play that either. So we ended up with—Go Fish.

I know.

I felt stupid placing such high stakes on a game of Go Fish. We were probably the first people ever to do this.

There isn't a table in my room except for my desk so we ended up sitting cross-legged in a circle on my floor. I sat in-between Jean and Scott and glared over at Remy who was grinning at me. Then I made sure to shuffle the cards myself. I wouldn't have Remy cheating at this game too.

As I passed the cards out Remy started whistling 'tiptoe through the tulips'. Don't ask me why. But it was weird.

And then we started.

This was turning out to be the most frightening (and intense) game of Go Fish I've ever played…Of course the last time I played this I had been eight.

Kitty got the first set. Oh no. Grinning cheekily, she put down four tens for all of us to see. I almost started hyperventilating when she put down another set. I should run right now. Just run out the door and never come back. That would solve this problem. I could run away from home.

"Kitty, do you have any aces?" Jean asks slyly.

The whole game Kitty had been asking everyone if they had any aces. Jean had just drawn from the deck her last turn.

"No fair!" Kitty pouted and hands over three big shiny aces.

Ok…one for me. Jean is one up, that's good. Deep breath, deep breath.

Remy got the next set by taking two cards from me.

Oh my cruddy life—WHY?

I swear I heard him cackling evilly. Or…fine it was chuckling. But he was chuckling evilly! Oo! I know! I should tell Jean to read their minds and see what they have! Or would that be cheating? The way I saw it, if _I _did it, then it wouldn't be counted as cheating. But if Kitty or Remy did it…then yeah, it would be cheating.

I told you I had screwed up logic.

As if this game wasn't terrifying enough, Scott struck up a conversation that I wish he didn't.

"So, Remy," he says after Kitty told him to go fish, "I'm just wondering…Rogue has poison skin. How are you going to manage getting past that?"

"Remy got a plan," he says while grinning crookedly at me.

Oh lord. I don't want to know what he's thinking. I'm almost at the point where I wanna say to hell with it and let him see what happens when he touches me. Uh, I mean—touches my skin. On my arm. Or somewhere NOT private at all.

…Washboard abs

I need _help._

"And how are you going to get past the obstacle of her not liking you?" Jean asks. That was a good question.

"Hey, she wants moi, you know that," his eyes twinkle as he continues to focus his gaze on only me. "She asked Remy to kiss her, you heard it."

Jean scoffs. "You made her do it!"

Remy finally turns to look at her. "How do you make someone do that?"

Jean glares across the circle at him and made a _hmph _sound. That was her only reply. Well thanks for that great defense Jean. Really appreciate that.

I almost started crying when Kitty got ANOTHER set. Inside, I was kicking my own stupid self for getting myself into this mess. Or more accurately—letting myself get pulled into this mess by Remy.

And _Kitty_.

Kitty is going to pay; there's no doubt about that. Stealing her ponytail holders and loosening her bed was just phase one of my non-existent devious plan. Besides, she seemed to have really calmed her hair down a lot throughout the week, and it turned out that she looked better with her hair _down_. That's just the universe working against me yet again.

And then there was the matter of Jean and Scott if they didn't win this game for me. They had also had a big hand in making me do this. If they made me lose and made me go out with Remy…I swear, all hell is breaking lose.

There's another thought that makes me nervous: Going out with Remy. I don't want to know what he has planned. Most probably it's something extremely perverted, irritating, and dangerous all rolled into one.

And don't forget the fact that he's making me lose control of myself every time he's near. He must be putting a spell on me or something, that's the only thing that makes complete sense.

Lust has never been an issue with me. It's never even been in my vocabulary. Stupid perfectly chiseled washboard abs. Stupid fit body with it's perfectly toned biceps and its stupid light trail of hair trailing downwards from its bellybutton. It's stupid.

"Rogue, do you have any fours?" Scott asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts. He tilts his cards so I can see that he already has three fours.

After happily passing the card over to him, I ask Remy if he has any sevens. Of course he doesn't, because that's just my luck and I have to go fish.

Ten minutes later, I'm ready to die.

Why, you ask? Well, because Kitty has five sets, Jean has five sets, Scott has one set, Remy has one set, and I have none. Of course. Everyone else had run out of cards except for me, and Remy. I had one card, he had three.

And guess whose turn it was.

I glared heartily down at the queen of hearts in my hand, thinking how ironic (and don't forget stupid) it was for this card to be the one to determine my fate.

"Rogue," Remy asks, "do you have any queens?"

Then I directed my glare at him and flung the card in his face. Angrily I scramble to my feet to make them all get out. Maybe I'll jump out of my window when they all leave and hurt myself really bad so that I don't have to go anywhere.

Scott and Jean are red-faced and looking very ashamed of themselves. Remy, who is smirking, stands up with me.

"Pick you up tomorrow, then," he says as he turns to leave.

"REMY," I shout, "GO FU-"

Kitty jumps up happily. "Yay!"

"-YOURSELF!" I finish.

Remy doesn't seem to care, and sprints cheerfully from the room, quickly followed by a skipping Kitty.

As Jean and Scott get to their feet, they try not to look at me.

"Rogue, I'm so sorry-" Scott tries.

"Get out." I snap. I'm in no mood for any of this right now. I have a pillow waiting to be screamed into.

They shuffle out, both keeping their eyes on their feet.

…

Yep. There is nothing that I can do to get myself out of this. All day I've holed myself up in my room (Amara brought me food) and considered every possibility from every angle and nothing is coming to me.

I could tell Wolverine that Remy was forcing me to go out with him. This is my favorite solution, but both Logan and Ororo had mysteriously disappeared from the institute.

I could tell Professor X. But then the undesired scan of my head would tell him that not only had I somehow agreed to go out with Remy if he won that stupid game, but that I had kissed him more than once. These were not things that I want my Professor to know.

I could fake sick. I'm very good at this. Just fake the sounds and poor water in the toilet and people buy it. But I'm willing to bet that Remy wouldn't. And even if he did, he would probably bring the date to me.

Or, I could act like a total biatch so that Remy would hate me! But when I thought of this idea, I could never remember a time when I had been civil to Remy. Go figure.

Seriously injuring myself was an idea. But then later when Professor X asked me why I had done it...What was I going to say? I tried picturing myself telling him, 'I did it so that I wouldn't have to go out with Remy. He won a date with me in a game of Go Fish with Kitty and Jean and Scott.'

That was another unwanted prospect.

So I'm stuck.

I have to go out with Remy tonight and there is nothing stopping me. Another thought that goes through my mind was just simply refusing to go with him. But then the image of him carrying me over his shoulder like a caveman out of the house enters my mind.

I whimper sadly into my pillow and try to think of happy things.

Kitty (whose bed I had heard crash around two am along with Kitty's squeals) came to my door around four to tell me that Remy would pick me up at seven, and that he requested that I wear something red.

I didn't give her any answer other than slamming the door in her face. I am NOT dressing up for him. Hell NO. I would rather light my own head on fire and jump off the Grand Canyon.

I make no effort in looking nice while getting 'ready'. No makeup, no perfume, I don't do a thing with my hair and I put on my purple shirt and blue jeans. If he wants to take me out so bad he's just going to have to take me as I am.

As the clock neared seven I had the strongest urge to take flight. Maybe I could make it down to the garage without anyone noticing and take off in one of the cars. I could spend a few days away and then come back with a big shotgun.

OR, I know! I can always—

There's a knock at my door.

I freeze mid thought and glance at the clock on my nightstand. Seven.

But maybe it isn't Remy…He's never knocked before. No, wait, this is _my luck_, it's Remy.

Picking up my jacket, I walk slowly to my doom—I mean the door—and open it. It's Remy. See, I told you.

He…hadn't dressed up either. A blue t-shirt, jeans, and his leather duster is his attire.

He blinks when he sees me. "You look beautiful."

Dammit! Wait, what?

"These are for you," he holds out bouquet of sunflowers for me.

How did he know that sunflowers were my favorite flower? Oh, yeah.

_Kitty_.

I accept them anyway and place them carefully on the table just by the door. No use wasting good flowers…Sure I was willing the waste the roses, but roses are different. When a man gives a woman roses, it means something. When you get sunflowers…they're really pretty and you should keep them.

Remember that thing I was saying about my logic?

And where did he get sunflowers in February?

"Where are we going?" I ask, just managing not to wince when I said it.

There's that crooked grin, the one that he reserves just for me.

"It's a surprise." He holds his arm out to me and I stare at it.

Rolling his eyes, he reaches out and takes hold of my hand and drags me downstairs. Ok, maybe not _dragged_, but I do have the urge to dig my heels into the floor as we're walking.

I'm thankful when we don't see anyone else around. It is the weekend, and there's rarely anyone around on the weekends, as I've mentioned before. But they're all so nosy I had expected everyone to sit around and watch our date.

We donn't say anything to each other on the way downstairs. That's weird. It gets me even more worried. If Remy is silent, then he's thinking. And that is NOT a good thing.

When we enter the garage, Remy leads us over to a shiny red motorcycle.

Ooooooo pretty.

He lifts one leg over and pats the seat behind him.

"Hop on, chére, Remy gonna take you for a ride."

Trying to ignore the double meaning behind this, I get on carefully behind him and search for something to hold onto. I am _not_ going to put my arms around him. Nope, not gonna happen. Sitting on the back of this bike is already wrapping my body around his and I am not going to make it worse. Speaking of which, I'm glad that he can't see my reddened face.

He could have chosen to ride in the car. But he chose to ride the bike. Wanna know why? I bet you already know.

After waiting for the garage door to take its sweet time opening up, Remy started the bike and it roars as we lurch forward. He did that on purpose. I was gripping his jacket, but the force of our take off scares me and I jump to put my arms more securely around his waist. Jackass.

It had stopped snowing the night before, so at least we didn't have to worry about icy roads. Snow still covered the ground though, and made the night eerily bright.

We hurtle down the driveway as cold air whips at our faces and I close my eyes to enjoy it more. I love riding on motorcycles. I wonder if Remy knows this but I'm sure he does, thanks to Kitty.

Then I have to wonder where he's taking me. Surely not anywhere fancy judging by his attire. So I guess we aren't going to any restaurants. Unless he's planning to take me to Burger King.

Or maybe we're going to another movie. That wouldn't be so bad. I could look at the screen the whole time and hardly notice him there.

Wait, I just realized something. This is my first date ever.

I take my time to digest this, and wonder why I hadn't realized it before now.

Well…wherever we're going, I'm sure I'm not going to enjoy it.

…

It doesn't take long to get to where we're going. Remy pulls us into the large parking lot and I look up to see the bright lights of…Wal-mart?

…What?

After he cuts the engine off I'm still staring up at the store. "You brought me to Wal-mart?" I ask incredulously. I think I'm insulted again.

He climbs off of the bike and doesn't even try to hide his amusement at my reaction.

"Don't worry," he tells me as I climb off, "we just have to stop here and get some supplies."

I look at him worriedly. "Supplies for what?"

He looks very mischievous as he takes my gloved hand in his and walks towards the store. "You'll see."

That can't be good. And also, who brings someone to Wal-mart for a date? Isn't that a tad…I don't know, trashy? But on the other hand, I am glad that he didn't take me somewhere too expensive or classy. Wal-mart doesn't make me feel uncomfortable…most of the time.

But let's not go there.

I laugh out loud when he grabs one of the little hand-held baskets. He looks at me confusedly for moment.

"What?"

I shake my head quickly. "Nothing."

He grins. "Do I look like little red riding hood?" He asks which is weird because that was exactly what I had been thinking. And then he skips away looking very much like little red riding hood…in Remy form.

I stare after him in horror as everyone turns to look at his very odd display. My cheeks burn as I rush over to him to make him stop.

"Oh my gosh, stop, stop!"

I see his face redden with the effort of not laughing. I'm trying very hard to keep myself from busting into laughter and to not lose it in front of all these people, who, by the way, are still watching us.

Grabbing his arm, I pretty much run from them, dragging Remy along with me.

"Please don't do that again, not in front of other people," I tell him while trying to keep a straight face and failing.

After rounding a corner, I let go of him.

"Whatever you say," he says and takes my hand again before I can stop him. "Let's go this way."

Remy turns out to have a very…odd shopping list. He picks up paper clips, scotch tape, a wrench, two different screwdrivers, a flashlight, a bumper sticker making kit (yes, they make those), deodorant, and most disturbing of all: a poster of some hunky male model without a top on.

I stare at him worriedly when he picked up that last one. Now I'm just freaked out.

"What's your favorite candy?" He asks me when we reach the check out line and he see's the shelves full of it.

I can't believe Kitty hasn't told him. I reach over and grab the Sweet Tarts and throw them into his basket.

We only have two bags, but the ride home was a little awkward anyway. Yes, he took me back home. I still can't figure what we're doing but it seems to have an ominous feeling about it. The flashlight worries me. So does that poster. I'm not sure what dangerous thing he could use the deodorant for, but that worries me too.

It was after we got home, the garage door closed behind us, and we had both climbed off of the bike before Remy turned to me, looking very excited.

"Rogue," he says, taking his hand in mine, "tonight, we are going to take these supplies and use them." He stops to gauge my reaction but I just stand there waiting for him. "Tonight, I am going to help you do something that should have been done a long time ago."

The deodorant crosses my mind again.

"What's that?" I ask him.

He grins. "We're getting revenge."

Oooo, I like that.


	10. The Chapter Where There Is Revenge

Now it was my turn to grin.

"Really?" I ask Remy who nods in response. "Wow…that's really-wait a second," I say, "I thought you were working with Kitty to…'get me' or whatever..."

Remy nods again. "Yes…"

"So even though she has been trying to help you, you're going to help me get back at her?" I ask, trying to figure this out.

He looks at me strangely. "Yes…what's your point?"

What's my point? Seriously? Oh well, just as long as we're paying Kitty back for everything, I'm fine with his deviousness for one night. I shrug and look down at the bags he's holding.

"I have to ask, what's the deodorant for?"

"I just needed that for myself."

That explains the deodorant. Now I have to wonder about the poster.

"Just so you know," Remy says, "we're also getting Jean and Scott back for making you lose that game last night and forcing you to go out on this _awful_ date with me."

I clear my throat and try to convince myself that I am not having a good time. Because I'm not. He's right, this is awful…Ok, and that's a lie. But getting back at Jean, Scott, and Kitty…I'll never say it out loud but this is turning out to be…not _that_ bad.

"Ready?" He asks me, and without waiting for an answer, he walks into the house.

As I'm following him up the stairs, I can't help but notice again how empty it is. "Where did everyone go?" I ask, not really caring about the answer.

Remy looks back at me. "I gave the group some money and told em' to have fun."

He _always_ manages to surprise me. So…that means that he's been working with Kitty from the start, and then gave her and the rest of the group money to go out just so he could help me get back at them. And all while he was on a date with me that Kitty had helped him get in the first place.

Hmm.

We hit Scott's room first. The door is unlocked so we're able to go straight in. As I flip on the light, Remy starts rummaging through the bags. He pulls out the scotch tape, the poster, and a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket.

"What's that?" I ask him and he hands it over to me as he starts unrolling the poster.

What…what is this? I find a large cut-out picture of Jean's head on the paper and I assume it must have been printed from the computer…Oh my god, the whole time we've been on this date, Remy has had Jean's head pressed against his butt. How...odd…I'm not sure what to think of that…I'm not sure if I _want _to think of that.

I stare down at it and then give Remy a strange look.

He's chuckling happily as he tapes the poster to the back of Scott's door.

I look from the door, to the picture in my hand, then to the scotch tape. Now I get it…weird.

"Are you gonna tape Jean's head to that model's body?" I ask.

"Yes, yes I am," Remy says proudly while smoothing the poster out.

"And how is this supposed to be revenge on Jean or Scott…I mean, don't get me wrong, that image in my head is messed up, but.."

Finished with his task, he turns to me. "Have you ever noticed where Scott and Jean go after they've gone to bed?"

I shrug. "To their bedrooms?"

"No…and yes." His lips start to twitch upwards, "They, and when I say _they_, I mean, both of them, TOGETHER, come in _here_."

The way he says it, I half expect to hear a DUN DUN DUN to follow his words.

"Ew! Why did you tell me that?"

"Chére, what do you suppose Jean is gonna think when he see's that," he points at the picture in my hand, "on this in Scott's room?" He waves back at the poster.

Oh my God. That is so mean. And so wonderfully evil. But something seems to be missing. Apparently Remy thinks so too, because he pulls a black marker out of his coat pocket and tells me watch.

I do just that and watch him write (in surprisingly feminine handwriting) something at the bottom of the poster. _What I wish_ was written underneath the model's nipples and Remy even went so far as to dot his I's with little hearts.

Oh. Holy. Hell.

As he's taping Jean's head over this man's face, I nearly have an aneurism from laughing so hard. Oh how I would love to be a fly on the wall when Jean sees this in Scott's room. This is so messed up.

Two minutes later, we're sprinting across the landing and I'm trying to get my amusement under control—and failing. I keep bursting into fits of giggles and by the time we've arrived at Kitty's room, I'm out of breath.

Kitty's door is locked. I suppose she must have locked it because (obviously) someone had gotten into her room last night and loosened the bolts on her bed. Wasting no time, Remy pulls the paper clips out of the bag and picks the lock.

If I hadn't had a look into his mind before, right about now I would be very glad that I didn't know how he knew how to do that. But unfortunately, I do know.

Though I am having fun, I can't help but feel a little twinge of guilt about pranking Jean and Scott too. They're on my side…but Jean, Scott, and Kitty have all been getting on my nerves with this. Not only that but they made me lose last night. Yes, that's right; I am NOT to blame for that!

…Even though I allowed myself to be talked into it.

When we get into Kitty's room, I see that someone (I doubt that it was Kitty) has fixed her bed back the way it was before I caused it to crash.

Remy searches the bags again and hands me one of the screwdrivers.

"See every available surface? Loosen them _all_."

Laughing, he pulls out the flashlight and the wrench and dives under the bed as I go for her bedside table.

I set to work, the image of Kitty coming into her room and having everything she touched crash to the floor happily in my mind. Am I being mean? I can never tell. Though it was mean of Kitty to set me up on a date that I did not want. It was mean of Kitty to go telling Remy what my favorite breakfast was (no matter how good it turned out to be) and making sure that he made it.

Ok, maybe the second one wasn't _that _mean.

But she did make sure that I put on a slutty shirt before I went on the unwanted date. That was mean.

And I guess I should mention that it wasn't very nice of Jean and Scott to show me those stained underwear. That's still horribly fresh in my memory. I've tried hard to block that one out.

It seems to take no time at all for Remy to finish with the bed. He rolls out and together we unloosen every bolt and screw in her desk, bookshelf (that barely has anything on it), and nightstand. Remy even goes so far as to go into the bathroom and loosen the toilet seat.

When we finally exit the room, it's all I can do to keep my giggling under control, and Remy has to pretty much drag me away from the door to keep me from loosening the hinges on _that_ too.

By the time we've traveled all the way down to the kitchen, I've calmed down. Some.

We both sit at opposite sides of the table in the empty kitchen. Rummaging through the bags once more, Remy tosses me my Sweet Tarts, then grabs his Skittles along with the bumper sticker making kit.

Yes, I didn't know they made those either. But apparently, they do. Whoever 'they' is.

"This is going on Scott's car," he shows me the kit and grins.

"Wait, what?" I ask as I take it from him. "I thought we already got Scott?"

Remy shrugs. "It don't matter, that guy is annoying."

That is an interesting bit of news. I don't know why Remy doesn't like Scott but I ain't gonna ask.

Remy motions to the kit. "What do you think it should say?"

My mind jumps to a billion different things. I want to embarrass him, but I don't want to be too mean. We can always write something about tiny 'man parts' if ya know what I'm sayin. But I guess that might be goin' too far.

We can always write one of those: honk if you—and then put something stupid. Have I ever mentioned how much I _hate_ those?

Remy sits eating his candy and watching me. He doesn't have any input on this so eventually I just put the first thing that comes to mind.

I'm only speeding because I really have to poop.

What? It's all I can think of. I know Scott likes to drive fast so that's just an added bonus. When I'm done, I slide the sticker over to Remy who almost chokes on his candy.

"So, Rogue," he says after drinking a big glass of water, "I don't believe we know each other all that well."

I know enough. Enough to make myself want to stay away.

"Actually, I do know you. I've been in your head, remember?" I remind him before popping a Sweet Tart in my mouth. That's a lie. I didn't see his whole life in my head. Just bits and pieces…Or really just a few pieces. It was mostly just things about his personality and things that he had on his mind at that moment that I picked up.

"You don't know everything." He says, "Remy was thinking, you ask me any five questions ya want and vice versa."

I am not getting sucked into that. Most likely the questions will be about my underwear or what I look like naked. But he must see something on my face that tells him what I'm thinking.

"Don't worry, four questions will be perfectly acceptable and one will be personal."

I stare at him. Though I wouldn't mind being able to ask him something, I don't want him to ask _me_ anything that I don't want to answer.

"You can go first." He promises with a grin.

I sigh. He's doing that thing again. That thing where he sucks me into something that I know I'm going to regret five minutes later. But remember, I'm an idiot. And idiots don't say no.

"Fine."

I'm an idiot.

Remy looks very satisfied with himself as he leans back to look at me, waiting for my questions.

I search my head for something that I don't know about him. "How old are you?" Odd that I don't know that.

"Twenty three."

He's five years older than me? I thought he was older.

"How did you find out about the bet?"

"Kitty came up to me and asked me how bad I wanted you."

I gawk at him.

_Kitty_.

"So I said why," he continues, "and she said because, and I said why again, and she said because, and I said why AGAIN, and she said-"

"Cut to the point!" I snap.

"Yes ma'am. She said she would help me with you if I helped her win a bet."

Yes ma'am?

"And you didn't think to warn me about this?"

He leans forward. "Is that your third question?"

Of course he can't just answer a simple question. I quickly shake my head and try to think of something else.

"You didn't…you didn't agree to that _horrid_ movie did you?"

This might not seem like a very important question. Not unless you've seen that movie. If Remy had really known what it was and agreed to go see it, that would say a lot about his personality to me. Worst. Movie. Ever.

He tilts his head at me. "Gigli? No, I had no idea what we were gonna go see."

Well that's a relief. That movie is _awful_.

"That whole thing with Magneto...did you really agree with what he was doing?"

Don't ask me why my powers didn't pick _that _up. I've wondered that for a while. It's probably because the universe works against me. That's the only plausible explanation I can think of that makes sense.

He smirks at me now, tilting his chair back onto two legs. "Back in those days my loyalty went out to the highest bidder. My highest bidder then was Magneto. But I promise, Remy's changed."

His loyalty went out to the highest bidder? What a _wonderful _characteristic. Yeah, now I'm glad this guy is on my team.

Sarcasm. Kitty tells me I use it too much.

"It's time for your personal question," Remy tells me, looking excited. I guess he's not nervous. The Buttmunch.

"Ok…" I think for a moment, trying to figure the best way to phrase my question. "You came back here and you joined the X-men…but it seems that the team hasn't been your top priority."

I take a second to look at him. He's just sitting there, waiting patiently, and not letting me know what he's thinking.

"I guess what I'm tryin to say is…why did you really join the X-men?"

I can't believe I said that. But the question had been gnawing at me since he got here. What I said is true; he doesn't seem to put all his attention on the team. All his attention is focused on me. And I have to wonder if I had something to do with Remy joining the X-men. I hope not.

He stares at me for a moment. It seems my question has made _him_ uncomfortable for a change. A NICE change. Ha, I made _Remy_ feel uncomfortable. REMY.

It's fun.

He clears his throat and takes a moment before answering. "I joined because…I thought it was time for a change."

I stare, expecting for him to continue but he just sits there. "Care to elaborate on that?"

He tisks annoyingly. "That's six questions."

"Remy," I say warningly.

Sighing, he shrugs at me. "What can I say, Rogue, you're a very hot, sexy woman and I can't keep away from you."

"Are you teasing me?" I ask him while trying to fight away the rising blush.

He gives me a strange look. "No, I'm completely serious. What makes you think I'm teasin?"

"It's your turn," I tell him, though I'm dreading his questions.

"You weren't the whole reason, but you were definitely a part of it."

It takes me a minute to figure out what he's saying. He loves to change the subject every other second and it's hard to keep up. And then I get it.

Oh.

The kitchen grows silent as we stare at each other from both sides of the table. I don't know what to say…What do you say to that? Though I am glad that I wasn't the whole entire reason that he came back. Maybe he really has changed.

Maybe…he's not _that _bad.

Ha! What am I saying? He's Satan!

…Ok, maybe not Satan, but he could be Satan's cousin or something.

"My turn!" he says excitedly. "On a scale of one to ten, how sexy do you think I am?"

Why did I agree to this? Oh, that's right; I'm a self destructive idiot.

"That's not a question about me."

"Yes it is!" He disagrees. "It's asking what you think in _your_ head." He says matter-of-factly. "And you can't lie."

I scowl at him. If it weren't for those DAMN ABS, I would feel comfortable lying about this question. Now I know if I lie it's going to show all over my face.

"Six," I finally lie to him. I mean, finally tell him.

He seems happy with the rating though and continues. "Ok…" He leans towards me and I'm not liking that look in his eye. "Remember that card I gave you, so many months ago? My queen of hearts…" He smiles a little when I nod, "do you still have it?"

If these are his normal questions, I'm already cringing inside thinking about what his personal question is going to be.

"Somewhere deep in an old, dirty box buried under my bed." I tell him. Though this is another lie; the card is actually on the second shelf in my closet. Not that I look at it often.

I'm not sure why it's such a big deal that I still have his card, but Remy seems satisfied with my answer. And I'm not sure why I'm lying about where it is, either.

"Rogue," he says, bringing me back from my thoughts, "do you like it when I do this?" He reaches over, grabs my hand before I can move, and starts tracing little circles on my gloved palm.

Well, that was random. And this feels really…really…really…

I jerk my hand away from him and glare. "No!" I snap. Though it's quite obvious that my answer is not one hundred percent honest.

This guy's easily amused tonight. His grin has returned as he looks at me. "Question number four…what to ask Rogue? Hm…"

I wait for whatever random, insane question he's going to ask next.

"What's your favorite movie?"

Remy is weird.

But at least I can answer a question comfortably and honestly this time. "Gone With the Wind," I tell him without pausing to think.

He looks surprised by my answer. For some reason, most people are. I don't get it either; Gone With the Wind is really good.

"That's a good southern movie," he agrees. Then, his face completely changes. He's starting to look more like Satan's cousin. "Time for my personal question."

I cringe and brace myself.

"Tell me, the other day, when you saw me in nothing but a towel…did you like what you saw?"

I feel as if I can melt into my seat. I close my eyes in horror and hide my face in my hands. Even through my gloves, I can feel that my cheeks are burning hot. Crapolla, I had the feeling he had known that I was staring at him! Why me. Why. Why. Why. Why. WHY?

I fight the urge to wail miserably into my hands. Though I still have to answer Remy's question, I'm sure he knows just from my reaction to his question what my answer is going to be.

This date isn't so great anymore…Oh yeah, I forgot that we're on a date.

Hey, that knife on the counter isn't too far away; maybe I could grab it quickly enough to kill myself. Or maybe I could run from the kitchen…Or I could always jump through the window…But in all my luck, I just know that if _I _jumped at it, it probably wouldn't break, and I would end up really hurting myself…and looking like an idiot.

"Rogue? Are you going to answer?"

AAAAAAHHHH! Hey! I could hold my breath for a long time and make myself pass out! Now that's a plan.

Or I could stop acting like a child and answer the man's question.

"You-" I can do it. I'm a grown woman, I am a GROWN WOMAN! "You have nice-"

The sound of people outside in the hall distracts me from answering. Not that I'm complaining. It doesn't take me long to figure out who it is. Ororo and Logan (who apparently are back from wherever they went) are out in the hall talking but they sound…weird. I look over at Remy whose attention is also on this. He shrugs at me.

They must be coming closer because I can finally hear what they're saying.

"Just let me show you, I promise you, it feels good," Logan's gruff voice echoes into the kitchen.

"Oh, alright," Ororo replies and I can hear that their footsteps have stopped.

"Come a little closer," Logan says.

Oooook, I don't think I want to hear this. That's just…oh my holy…What are they doing?

Logan continues, "Now give me this leg-"

"I can't bend that way!" I hear Ororo protesting.

"Yes you can, here."

"Oh!"

My mouth drops open as I stare in horror at the kitchen door. I don't know what's on the other side, but I really, really, REALLY, don't want to know. I glance over at Remy who looks to be fighting to keep a straight face. He thinks it's funny. I'm just horrified.

"Oh, you're right, that feels nice," Ororo says.

"If you bend over, it feels really good."

Ok, that's it! I've completely lost it; I can't take any more of this. I'm just about to make some kind of noise to let them know that someone is in here when I hear Ororo speak again.

"Thank you, I've been meaning to get to the doctor for weeks about that…I've always had back problems."

Oh thank God. Something inside me relaxes and I drop my head down to the table in relief. Across from me, Remy is snickering.

"I've been wondering when everyone else would notice those two," Remy's voice is quiet; I suppose it's so that Logan and Ororo, whom I can now hear walking away, can't hear him.

I snap my head back up to ogle at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Those two have been going at it behind everyone's backs for a while," he says matter-of-factly.

"What? They have not!"

One corner of his mouth lifts as he looks at me. "Yes, they have."

And I know he's telling the truth. Oh holy…That's just nasty. Nasty, I don't know why, but I do not want to think of my teachers that way. They don't have sex. They don't even think about it. It's the same thing when people think about their parents. Parents don't have sex, they don't want to. And neither do Ororo and Logan. At least in my head they don't.

That's my logic for you.

"And so have Jean and Scott, but I already told you that," Remy says, "And so has Kitty and-"

"Stop!" I can't take anymore of this. I think if I hear another word my ears are going to melt off. My system can only take one shock a day. The thought of Ororo and Logan is already torturing me.

"You never answered your question," he tells me with twinkling eyes.

I clear my throat awkwardly. I had hoped he'd forgotten that.

"You have nice...shoulders," I decide to go with the safe option. I've always liked a man with broad shoulders, but if Remy decided to tease me by showing me his shoulders, that wouldn't make me melt or anything. If I said, 'you have nice abs'…he'll most probably show me THOSE, and I…

"Shoulders?"

I nod. "Yes."

He looks down at himself curiously and then back up at me. "Is that all?"

I'm very grateful when the kitchen door opens to admit Kitty. Not grateful that it's Kitty, but grateful that someone interrupted this conversation. But now that she see's whose she's walked in on, she starts to back away.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to like, interrupt or anything; I'll just leave."

As she's backing up, she knocks into Jean and Scott who have come in behind her. Whirling around, she places her hands on her hips as she glares disapprovingly at them.

"You two, out!" She points a finger towards the door.

Scott and Jean both look at her skeptically.

"When did you become my mother?" Jean asks.

I almost laugh at this. I glance over at Remy who is looking slightly annoyed. Ha! He turns to meet my gaze and I quickly look away back to Jean and Scott.

"You brought her to Wal-mart?" Scott asks Remy when he spots one of the bags on the table.

I'm glad we already put the bumper sticker back in the bag.

Remy is about to reply when Kitty snaps at Scott.

"There's nothing wrong with…Wal-mart," she says, sounding very unsure of herself.

Then they break out into an argument. Jean and Kitty are both talking at once, and I have no idea what either one of them is saying. Scott is standing by, looking like he's also trying to decipher what is being said. Every now and then he would add in a 'Yeah!' or a 'That's right!' though I'm pretty sure that he has no idea what he's talking about.

I grow bored quickly. And on top of that, their voices are ringing in my ears and giving me a headache. I glance over at Remy who catches my eye. He nods his head towards the door. Finally, something we can agree on.

Quietly, we pick up our things and walk out of the kitchen, leaving our three team mates to their argument. No one notices our departure, and I have to wonder how long it will take them to notice.

Remy leads me back to the garage where we find Scott's car. He pulls out the bumper sticker and places it on his bumper as I chortle quietly into my hand. I hope that it'll stay on there for a few days.

Then Remy does something else I don't expect. He walks me to my room. I half expected him to make me stay on this date as long as humanly possible but I guess that isn't going to be the case. I…appreciate it.

Stopping outside of my door, he leans close to me and I stand rigidly, trying not to let my skin touch his own.

Gently, he brushes his lips against my cheek.

"Goodnight, Rogue," he tells me before turning and walking off.

How…odd. Did he use chapstick again? I suppose so, but I don't feel any on my cheek. I guess I won't dwell on-DAMMIT! He did it again! I let him kiss me AGAIN!

What? How…how does he _do that_?

Sighing to myself, I walk into my room and let the door swing shut behind me. After a few moments of lying on my bed and staring up at the ceiling, I stand up and walk over to my closet.

I don't know why I do it, but I open the doors and pat around on the second shelf until I feel what I'm searching for. Remy's card.

I pull it down and then stare at the queen of hearts.


	11. The Chapter Where Remy Is A Spidermonkey

It took me a while to get to sleep that night, but eventually I drifted off into a light slumber. I dreamed of random, stupid stuff like not being able to tie my shoes tight enough, and continuously pouring milk into my bowl of cereal only to have it never get full. I also dream of Remy, who kept taking his shirt off and—then I don't want to say the rest of that dream.

I wake up after this one, blushing into my pillow. Sighing restlessly, I roll over.

"Hi."

My scream is muffled by a hand (with a sleeve pulled down over it) clamping down on my mouth. I smell leather. Remy.

Ok, remember when I thought he had read my journal and I thought that was the maddest I could get? I was wrong. This is the maddest. Nothing he's done compares to _sneaking into my room in the middle of the night_. I sure hope he doesn't do this every night or I'm going to be down right creeped out.

I glance at the clock to see that it's one a.m. I can barely make out Remy as I start smacking at his hand.

He shushes me. "Rogue, listen." He points to the door as he pulls his hand away from my mouth.

"Listen for what?" I snap, but he shushes me again.

"Just listen."

I glare up at him through the darkness. All I can make out is his outline. Oh, I can't help it.

I reach up and smack him upside the head.

"Don't you ever sneak into my room at night again Remy LeBeau!" I hiss at him though I don't know why I'm trying to be quiet. Oh yeah, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

Then I hear a loud BOOM come from the down the hall along with two large crashes. There's silence and then—Kitty is shrieking out in the hall. She lets out a hearty string of curses, which shocks me. I've never heard Kitty curse before. This is accompanied by the sound of doors along the hall opening.

I glance back at Remy who is rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, well…sorry about that then." I tell him, though I'm not entirely sorry. "But seriously, don't sneak in here while I'm sleeping. It's creepy."

"I didn't do anything creepy," he says, "…All I did was take naked pictures of you to pass around to everyone tomorrow."

He dodges my next aim for his head.

Chuckling, he stands up and walks away as I climb out of bed.

"See ya," he says.

And then he jumped out of my open window. Seriously.

I almost scream.

Racing over to the window, I look down to see Remy climbing like a spider monkey down the ivy growing on the mansion. This sight is so odd to me that I have to stare for a few moments. How…weird. I wish I could tell someone about this, but then I would have to explain why he had been in my room in the first place.

Remembering Kitty, I close my window (making sure it's locked) and go for the door.

Someone had flipped the hall light on and I have to blink a few times to be able to see. Amara, who lives in the room next to me, comes out, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"What's going on?" She asks me and I shrug. I'm not supposed to know what's happened.

Together we turn the corner and walk a little ways down the hall until we see people. Logan arrives at the same time we do, looking alarmed, but ready with his claws out. Ororo is right behind him in a bathrobe and I have to ignore Remy's voice in my mind, telling me what they had been doing.

Tabitha is here, trying to calm Kitty down, who is still sending curses flying in every direction.

"What happened?" Ororo stops to ask Kitty while Logan runs into her room as if he expects to meet someone to fight in there.

"Someone loosened my bed screws again!" She yells furiously. I'm starting to enjoy this. "And then my bookshelf almost fell on me, and then I leaned on my desk and that fell too!"

I cover my mouth with my hand and pretend to yawn. I'm really just trying to hide my ridiculous grin. Good thing no one else is looking at me.

Jean chooses that moment to come walking into the hall. For a second I thought she had come out of her room, but looking again I see that she's coming from the direction of the boy's rooms and she's still fully dressed.

"What's going on?" She asks when she sees us all standing around.

Kitty kind of freaks me out when she jerks her head to glare at Jean. Her eyes narrowed, she points at her accusingly. "YOU did this!"

Uh-oh. That's not what I wanted…or expected.

Jean stares at her. "What? Did what?"

Logan steps out of the room, looking very annoyed. "Alright half pint, it's the middle of the night, go sleep in a guest room and we'll take care of this in the morning."

But Kitty wasn't having it. She continued to glare at Jean. "My room! You destroyed it!"

Well this is backfiring. Or maybe not _backfiring_ but it isn't going the way I that want it to. I don't want to get Jean in trouble…Just as I start to wonder if the commotion had woken anyone else up, Kurt appears next to me out of thin air.

"I was sent to see what's going on," he tells me.

What? Were the rest of the guys too lazy to come check on us? How noble they are. As Kurt starts to look in Kitty's room, I glance down the hall to see Remy leaning against the wall. Our eyes meet and I have to look away to be able to keep a straight face.

Jean and Kitty are arguing again. Logan is looking grumpy and Ororo is looking stressed. Tabitha, bored with us already, has gone back to bed. Amara, who is still standing next to me, is falling asleep on the wall. Kurt however, is looking at me, then to Remy, then to Kitty's room. Oh crap.

I try to look innocent; I really do.

Rolling his eyes at me, Kurt simply teleports away. I have a feeling that we'll be talking about this later.

"Kitty, please, I'm not in the mood for this. My worst nightmare just came true," she mutters that last part but I still heard her. "Anyway, when could I have possibly done all that? I've been with you most of the night!" Jean is yelling, which is weird because Jean never yells. Kitty really must be grating at her nerves.

Kitty seems to realize that she has a point. She falls silent but still looks mad as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Well…someone did it," she says miserably.

"Ok, ENOUGH!"

I jump as Ororo snaps at them. Next to me, Amara jerks her eyes open and flings away from the wall.

Then Ororo said blah, blah, blah, then Kitty said bleh, bleh, bleh, and we all went back to bed.

Sometimes the shorter version of things is better. Or…really I just got lazy. And sleepy.

…

The next day I find myself eating lunch in my room with Amara, the only sane person left in the house. She doesn't seem to care about the bet either way (which I find odd since she had put money into it), so right now she's the most tolerable person I can hang with.

That is, until she asks me: "So, how did your date go last night?"

I swallow my piece of sandwich down and start to sip on my coke so that _maybe_ I can avoid the question. But yet again, I forget that the universe hates me. So that forces me to think.

Great, now I'm thinking about Remy. Again…Washboard abs.

Did I like my date last night? I certainly enjoyed riding on the motorcycle…I always enjoy that…I had fun pranking Jean and Scott and Kitty (who, by the way, has recruited Colossus to fix all her stuff back and put a dead bolt on her door. No kidding.).

Jean came into the kitchen earlier today and asked with a strange look on her face, "Who put the _weird_ and extremely _disturbing_ poster on Scott's door? I'm not buying that Scott did it," she said, though she sounded unsure of herself. "Seriously, who did it?"

Then when Kurt gave me a look, I decided to skip breakfast.

And….back to what I was saying…Aside from the part where it was Remy that I was on a date with, then I guess…I did enjoy it…Even though he had made me laugh several times…and it was him who orchestrated the whole thing…and he brought me sunflowers.

I'm in trouble.

My heart is not getting all mushy gushy right now, so don't think it is! I had fun last night, but that doesn't make me suddenly blind to the fact that Remy annoys the crap outta me. Or that I could never have a relationship with him, or anyone else, because let's face it, I'm deadly to the _touch_.

That means that this can't happen. That means that I have to avoid Remy like my life depends on it, because apparently just telling him that I'm not interested is not going to make him back off.

Which brings my mind to another thing. What's all this about him joining the X-men partly because of me? Why? I don't know what is going through his head when he makes these decisions, and really, I don't think I want to know.

"Rogue?" Amara says, snapping me from my thoughts.

Oh yeah, I still have to answer her question. I shrug one shoulder while staring down at my food. "It was ok…"

"Ok fun, or ok bad?" She tries again.

"I…guess…ok…fun," I manage to grind out. I hate saying good things about Remy out loud.

…What?

"Hey Rogue, don't sweat it. Whatever you tell me stays in this room."

Oh. That's nice. I've never really talked to Amara all that much, but I know she's a nice person. But I still hesitate. What if something I said got back to Remy? Or worse: _Kitty_.

But when I meet her eyes, she seems sincere enough…

"Ok," I scoot a little closer to her, "if I tell you something, will you promise not to breathe a word to _anyone_?"

Amara nods enthusiastically. "Yes, of course."

I'm starting to feel a little girly. Yuck. I seriously need to find someone else to hang around other than Kitty. I bite my lip before answering. I really don't want anyone to find out…but I kind of do. On the other hand—oh to hell with it! If Amara tells I'll just blame it all on Remy.

"You know that stuff about Kitty's stuff falling? And the poster in Scott's room?"

"You and Remy did it!" She squeals excitedly

Ooook. It isn't _that_ exciting. I quickly shush her and then I nod. She busts into a fit of giggles and falls over, clutching at her sides. When I remember Kitty's face last night and the million or so curses that flew from her mouth, I know exactly why she finds it so funny.

I've never seen Kitty that mad before. Never.

There's something strangely satisfying, (not to mention hilarious) about royally pissing someone off.

I have to wait a few minutes for Amara to stop her giggling. I actually finish my sandwich while I wait. When she's finally calmed down, she sits back up to face me again.

"So…you had fun with Remy?" She says before hiccoughing.

I have to force myself to say it again. Though I don't know why, it's not like Remy is in the hall with his ear pressed to the door. He's not Kitty. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"See, he's not so bad," she smiles.

Ha! Not so bad? He's Satan's cousin! But I don't say this out loud, of course. The world is not ready for my mind just yet. Instead I shrug one shoulder. Just because I had one good date with him…and he's kissed me _three_ times now, doesn't mean I'm just going to fall head over heels for him out of the blue.

"Do you…like him?" Amara asks.

"What?" I yelp. "No!"

Amara narrows her eyes at me suspiciously. I'm not fond of that look. "Rogue, you're lying."

"No! No I'm not!"

"You're a terrible liar," she says before sipping her coke.

"I am _not_ lying!" I tell her. Because I'm not. I don't like Remy. Not at all.

She nods and rolls her eyes. "Okaaay, you're not lying. I _believe_ you," she says sarcastically.

Whatever. I'm not going to argue this. If she doesn't want to believe me then she just won't believe me. But I'm telling the truth. Remy has moments where he has the potential to be likeable, but then…I remember who I'm with. Remy.

"But you think he's hot, right?" Amara asks.

As the image of the best set of abs I've ever seen goes racing across my mind, I feel my face getting hot. Lying about how attractive I find Remy would be futile. Ha, futile. Isn't that a funny word? Futile. Futile. Futile. Futile. Futile. Futile.

And now the word has lost all meaning to me.

Abs—I mean Amara—is watching my reaction but not saying anything.

"You won't say anything to anyone?" I ask her miserably.

She nods.

I sigh—maybe I'm being a tad dramatic. But I feel like I'm in confessional right now.

"Yes." I tell her quietly.

"Oh," she nods happily, "Well, the first step is denial and you seemed to be halfway past that…"

"The first step to what?" I ask, confused by this.

"Nothing. Just…are you _sure_ you don't like Remy?"

I'm sure. Really sure…

…Right?

This is confusing.

But I don't like Remy.

I think.

…

An hour after this lunch with Amara, we have training. With Wolverine. Let me tell you, it was _lovely_. Remember how I use that word lightly? Well right now, I'm using it very FREAKING LIGHTLY.

Ahem.

First off, he drug us out to the woods. I don't know why this couldn't have been done in the danger room, but for some unbeknownst reason, we had to go to the woods. Though I was glad to finally see the sun out, the ground was still covered in snow, which just made things so much better.

Then we were BLIND FOLDED (I'm not making this up) and made to fight each other.

I'm not sure who I fought, but I ended up with a finger poking me in the eye even through the blind fold. I couldn't see a damn thing but I could hear Wolverine growling his disapproval throughout the whole session.

Really, I don't know why he wasn't laughing at us the whole time; we probably looked ridiculous. I sure felt ridiculous. Wait…that's probably why he put us through that humiliation! He probably just wanted to have a good laugh. I couldn't see if he was enjoying it, but he probably was!

I know I slipped on that stupid ice more than once and let me tell you, the bruises are _lovely_.

Then, as if this wasn't enough, he made us go through several hard (but actually normal) obstacles. At least he let us take off the blind folds for that.

For three hours we had to do this. Three hours. My body is so tired. And judging by the way everyone is dragging themselves while moaning back up to the mansion, I would say we've all had a pretty good workout. Everyone is dragging themselves—except for Remy. He's looking bouncy and happy.

I won't mind it unless he comes and talks to me. Because I don't like Remy. Remember that.

Oh crud…I like Remy.

NOOOOOOO!

But not like _that_. It's strictly platonic. Really, really, really platonic.

Never mind, I just don't like Remy.

At least this is what I tell myself all the way back to my room. I collapse on my bed and stay like that for a while. As far as training sessions go, that was a doozy. I'm just starting to get comfortable when someone starts knocking frantically at my door.

I sit up and am about to trudge over to open it when Tabitha runs in and closes it quickly behind her. I just sit and watch as she races over to me. She looks…weird.

"Rogue! Rogue! You will not _believe_ what I just saw!" She tells me, sounding very alarmed.

"Oh…I think I already know," I say as the image of Logan and Ororo goes through my mind. Damn Remy for putting that there.

Her eyes widen. "You _know_ and you didn't tell me?"

I shrug. "I just found out last night…I just thought it was Logan and Ororo's business, not ours."

"WHAT?" Tabitha shrieks loudly at me.

Ow.

Oops…I guess she didn't know about that one…but who is she talking about?

I quickly shake my head. "Nothing, nothing…I don't think I want to know what you saw."

Her attention is averted away from Logan and Ororo by this. "But no! I HAVE TO TELL SOMEONE!"

"Tabitha, if this is obviously a secret then if I were you, I'd keep it to myself."

"No! I have to tell you!" She says excitedly, "I just saw Kitty sucking face with-"

"No!" I plug my ears with my fingers and start going: "LALALALALALALALA!" until Tabitha glares at me and eventually leaves.

I do NOT want to know who Kitty is 'sucking face' with. Not only is it not my business, but I don't want that image in my head. Whoever she's doing that with is probably one of my friends. Ororo and Logan, Jean and Scott, Kitty and some mystery man…Apparently I'm living with a bunch of horn dogs.

Not to mention Remy who has just walked through my open door. He's the biggest horn dog of all.

Not that I think about Remy's sex life.

Wait a second—I could find out who Kitty is sneaking around with and hold it over her head! But…even though Kitty has been a pain in my butt, I can't be that mean. I'll just destroy most of her personal belongings.

Remy strolls over and stops in front of me. I wait for whatever he has come in here to say but all he ends up saying is a bunch of gibberish. At least it's gibberish to me. It's just a bunch of something in French.

I feel my eyebrows come together in confusion. "What?" I ask him, though I'm thinking I probably don't want to know. He probably just said something really perverted.

But instead of answering me, he just grins. "Nothing."

That's going to get annoying. And that kind of proves to me that he really did just say something perverted.

Aaand…now he's sinking into my desk chair. When did I make him think that it was ok to just walk into my room and stare at me? Oh, that's right, I DIDN'T! I knew I shouldn't have had fun with him last night.

…What a wacky thought that was.

"I have something for you." He grins at me and then pulls out a little tape recorder from his pocket.

I stare at it worriedly for a second. "What's that?"

"Jean and Scott when they found that poster last night."

I feel one of my eyebrows lift. "You recorded them?"

He nods. "Don't you want to hear?"

Sure I do. But the image of Remy crouched outside of Scott's door with a tape recorder in his hand is quite an image in my head. I kind of want to ask him if really had to hide outside of their door and listen to them, but…I want to hear the tape.

Without waiting for an answer, Remy presses play.

All I hear at first is a few footsteps. That was preceded by a squeak that I'm not sure what came from, and some weird smacking noises.

"Oh god, are they Frenching each other?" I ask with a disgusted look at the tape recorder.

Remy laughs. "On the bed!"

Oh that's just fan-freaking-tastic. I feel very uncomfortable listening to this.

"Turn it off or fast forward!" I say as I fight the urge to cover my ears.

"No, wait, shh," he holds the player closer to me so I can hear it better.

"Scott," I never wanted to hear Jean's voice sound like that. My ears are bleeding—BLEEDING! "Scott," she says again, but this time it's not so…breathy. "Scott, what the hell is THAT?"

"Um…" Scott sounds confused. "I thought you knew what _that _was—oh, wait, what are you talking about?"

Gross.

"I'm talking about—GET OFF OF ME!" I hear a loud thump and I assume that Scott has been shoved off of the bed. Haha. "I'm talking about THAT! You are SICK, Scott! SICK!"

There's a few moments where it's complete silence and then the recording shuts off.

Remy looks over at me apologetically. "I think she knew someone was outside of the door so I ran for it."

Oh. Well that was ok, at least I got to hear some of it. Just knowing that Jean had thought that Scott had really put it there is hilarious enough.

"And I got you a present." He says while pulling something out of his pocket.

Great, now since I took those flowers (which, I am sad to say, are sitting on my window seal) he thinks it's ok to give me presents. Somehow I've made him think its ok to kiss me, come in my room, lay on my bed, and give me gifts. And I've been trying to avoid every bit of it.

He pulls out a deck of cards, still in the little box, and tosses them over to me. Oh. Cards aren't so bad. Though I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I don't really play cards all that much.

"Uh, thanks…I guess," I tell him while looking the box over.

"You should take a look at those later on," he says. "But right now I have to ask you something."

"No." I say automatically even though I don't know what he's going to say. But I have an idea.

"Why not?"

"Because."

He tilts his head to the side as he studies me. "Because why?"

"Because of…the reason."

"The reason for what?"

"For…it."

Don't worry; I'm just as confused as you are. I have no idea what we're talking about. I'm just trying to mess him up so he'll forget what he wants to ask me.

Remy nods slowly. "Ok…I understand."

At least someone does.

"But I have to ask you something." He continues.

So much for my 'genius' plan. I sit and wait for whatever crap he's going to come up with now. It wouldn't be a normal day if he didn't come up with something.

He leans forward until his forearms are resting on his knees and he's staring at me intently.

"What would you say if I told you…I borrowed something from Bolivar Trask?"

See, I told you he would come up with some—WAIT, what did he just say?


	12. The Chapter Where Rogue Hears A Grin

…

I immediately shoot to my feet, dropping the box of cards in the process. He did not just say that. I _knew_ it! I knew it! Ok, maybe I didn't _know_ it, but the thought had crossed my mind for a brief instance.

My mind was bombarded with a million different images and thoughts as he asked this question. Hot kisses, sunflowers, _washboard_ _abs_, motorcycle rides, laughing until I was light headed, French toast, _washboard abs_, his crooked grin, those little baskets at the grocery store, apples, _washboard abs_…

And as these images go through my mind, I'm suddenly very conscious that we're in my bedroom, alone, once again.

"Get out! Get out now!" I snap at him. I can't handle this right now. I'm too tired for this.

He hops to his feet and walks towards me. "Relax now, chére, I won't do-"

But I never found out what he wouldn't do. I didn't care to stick around for that part. I can't be alone with him, he'll attack me. And when I say attack me, I mean he'll do something to me with his lips that will make me forget my name and turn my brain to mush.

Not that he has that affect on me.

Except for that one time where he had that affect on me.

I sprint from the room (see, I'm being dramatic again) and down to the foyer. Wow, he actually didn't follow me. I had expected that he would—and oh lord I've left him in my bedroom.

I'm just about to force myself to go back up there when I notice that Evan is leaving. Well that sucks. I've hardly spoken to him since he got here. Not that there's been a lot of chances…The Morlocks really stick to each other like white on rice and really just keep to themselves. Evan is hardly the person I used to know. Now he's all serious all the time which I'm not saying is a bad thing; he does have a lot on his plate.

And now I need to stop trying to get my mind off of one thing. I wave goodbye to Evan as he's walking out the door and he waves back. That's the most we've interacted since he got here.

Sighing, I turn and walk back upstairs. I can't leave Remy alone in my room. He's nosy and knows no boundaries. He's probably going through my underwear right now. Oh god he's probably reading my journal. I should not have written that stuff about washboard abs in there.

This only makes me walk faster.

Thirty seconds later I slam my door open to find...nothing. Well that's a relief.

And that's when Remy walks out of my bathroom. I hope he washed his hands. But then something tells me that he probably went in there to go through my stuff. I wouldn't doubt it, but I ain't gonna ask.

"I knew you couldn't resist," he tells me while grinning crookedly.

"I can," I pull my door all the way open and take a few steps inside. "I just wanted to see if you were going through my things." I look around suspiciously.

"Actually, I was." He says to me. "And let me tell you, I found the _best _book."

I _knew_ it! He pulls out my journal and waves it around teasingly. I'm not going to react. Hadn't we already done this? What's that feeling I'm getting? Oh yeah, déjà vu. I am not going to fight him for my journal. Unless he tries to read it. Which I'm sure he is going to do. He's probably done it already.

"But you know," he says, "I think before I read this, I'm going to make myself more comfortable."

Oh no, what is he planning now? I should just walk away and forget about the stupid journal. It's not that important anyway. It just has all of my deepest secrets in there. I could run up and grab it from him. I could go get Logan. Haha.

But then Remy…Oh holy crap.

Tossing my journal onto my bed, he pulls his shirt over his head in one swift motion. And gaaaaaaa…

I don't know what that means, but it describes his body perfectly. God, he is _fit_.

I try to look away. I really do. But in my head it's like there's a giant spotlight shining right on his torso. A spotlight and a giant red bulls-eye and a hundred or so angels singing the hallelujah chorus.

I have problems.

He seemingly doesn't notice my staring, however, and makes himself comfortable by stretching himself out on my bed. Wow…That's a sight I never thought I'd see.

"Oh wait," he says as though he's just remembered something, "I forgot to do my exercises. You don't mind, do you, Rogue?"

Not waiting for an answer, he springs off of the bed and drops to the floor where he starts doing push ups.

Remy is evil.

But really, how is he still going after that training session? And honestly, now that I can't see those abs, I'm starting to snap out of it. Wow, he has nice arms. No! Think of something else. Think of something not sexy.

Kitty yammering on about make-up, the kitchen sink after dinner, the curtains getting messed up, the Blob, the thought of Ororo and Logan together, giant sentinels, calculus, giant roaches with big-ass tentacles…Ok, that did it.

I walk over to the bed and grab my journal just as Remy starts doing his push ups with one arm.

"Remy, I'm tired; I don't have the energy for this today." Really though, I never have the energy for this.

He rolls over and leaps back to his feet, leaving me wondering again where he is getting all this energy from.

"Don't worry about it, you just lay down and Remy will do _all_ the work," he says suggestively.

I keep my gaze intently on his face as I glare at him. "What? No! I am not lying down."

"I promise you'll like it," he says and for some unknown reason, I feel a tingle go down my spine.

Yes, completely unknown reason.

Completely.

"No, I won't." I say defiantly.

"Just do it."

"No!"

"You know you want to."

"No I don't you perv!"

"Hey, you're the perv, I saw you checking me out."

I gape at him. I can't believe he has the audacity to say that _I'm_ the pervert! He's right, I was checking him out, but that does not make me a pervert. But I was only checking him out because he was parading around my room like a naked savage!

"You—you are so-" I say angrily, trying to think of the right words to describe my frustration, "you're just-" Oh hell, I can't think of anything!

"That hurts, really." He says sarcastically before jumping back on my bed. "Now come here."

This line turned out to be very hard to resist.

My hand was itching towards my alarm clock (so that I could grab it and throw it at him) when every other thought in my mind was pushed away as I received a telepathic message from Professor X.

'_Attention X-men, please come down to the basement, immediately. We have received a tip on the whereabouts of Bolivar Trask. Prepare yourselves for a mission.'_

Bummer. Have I mentioned that I'm _tired_? I hope Logan feels really bad about putting us through that hell now.

I assume that Remy has received the same message when he rolls off of the bed and picks his shirt up off the floor.

"Rain check then?" He asks as he pulls it back over his head.

"Um, NO!"

…

We were piled up in the jet within the next fifteen minutes when Professor X started giving us the details. I tried to remember the information that Logan had given us after we had taken care of the factory the last time.

Understandably, my mind had been a tad preoccupied on that day, so I had only barely managed to soak it in. But I did remember this: Since S.H.I.E.L.D. was a 'secret' organization, if they found Trask, they couldn't just storm in and grab him if he was in a public place. So they somehow worked it out with us so that they would track him down and then we would get to go grab the crap sack. Trask being the crap sack.

"Someone known to work for Mr. Trask was spotted buying a train ticket to-" I couldn't tell you why but my attention was averted to Kitty. Since this happens quite a lot when I'm supposed to be listening to something, I'm thinking A.D.D.

Anyway, Kitty is sitting next to Colossus…or what's the guy's name…um um um um um um….oh yeah, Piotr.

This sight wouldn't usually peak my interest. Except that now I'm wishing I had let Tabitha finish telling me who she saw Kitty kissing earlier. Now I'm looking at everyone and wondering which one it was. And she's sitting next to Piotr. I seem to recall more than one occasion Kitty telling me that she thought that Piotr was a 'like, totally sexy tin man'.

Hm…

And then there was Kurt, in whom she had shown an interest in the past. I shudder. No, I don't want to think about it anymore. I'm not thinking about my brother that way.

"—and that's the plan." Professor X concludes. "Are there any questions?"

Uh, yeah, what's the plan?

Maybe I could figure it out from everyone's questions. But, looking around, I don't see anyone looking like they have anything to ask. Oh, this is great. No wait, it's _lovely_. I'm going to end up getting myself killed. I swear I think this is the kind of thing that only happens to me.

And…now it looks like Logan is putting us into pairs. Pairs for what, I don't know.

"Rogue, you're with Kurt."

Ok, that's good. I can ask Kurt what the plan is. OH holy crap on a cracker, not Kurt! Now I'm going to have to face him. I've done so well today avoiding him. I'm just going to have to lie my butt off. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary with Remy last night. We got some food and watched a movie at home. Yes, that's all.

He's not going to buy any of that of course and I'm going to end up telling him.

See? Something else that would only happen to me. The universe hates me!

Mmm washboard abs.

Ok, I don't know where _that_ came from.

…

It wasn't until half an hour later that we arrived at the train station and we finally split up into groups. Professor X gave us a picture of Trask and a picture of the guy who supposedly bought the ticket for him and after looking over them I carefully tuck them into my pocket.

Thankfully, I had been able to ask Kurt what we were doing before we had gotten here. He had found it hilarious that I had no idea what was going on. And that ended up with him giggling the rest of the way here, prompting everyone to ask him what was so funny.

I'm just glad he didn't tell them.

The train station was very crowded, loud, and kind of gross. Seriously, the place could use some cleaning. Or some burning the whole building down—whatever got the job done.

Kurt and I skedaddled over to the corner of the train station waiting area and started trying to inconspicuously search for our guy.

"So," Kurt says without taking his eyes off of the crowd, "what did you do last night?"

I shrug. "Oh you know, this and that…we got some food, watched a movie…boring stuff."

"Mhmm, I believe you," he says sarcastically.

And amazingly, he didn't say anything else on the subject. Wow, the universe gave me one thing. Other than oxygen and all that other crap I need of course.

"Did you have fun? Are you in love with Remy now?" He asks.

No, more like lust. Wait! No! I didn't think that! I take it back! I tack it BAAAAACK!

"Hey, is that our guy?" Kurt pulls out his picture of Trask's goon and points to a man across the way.

After carefully looking at the picture and then back to the guy, I nod. "Yeah, that's him. I'll page the others."

But just as I'm reaching for my communicator, a loud BOOM resounds in the hall. I know that boom—or more like boom boom. Tabitha has gone and done the one thing we were told not to do. Attract people's attention. Aaaanddd, now everyone is panicking. _Lovely._

Everyone in the hall freaks out. They all start screaming in terror before stampeding for the doors that will lead them to the street. I'm pushed into the wall while Kurt teleports away—I'm guessing to go and try to grab the guy before he gets away.

Figuring I should _probably_ help him, I try my best to fight through the crazed crowd. I don't know why they're all so scared anyway—I mean, that could have been anything. From where we are, we can't see any flames (or even the explosion). For all they know, it could have been a pipe bursting or a car backfiring outside.

It turns out being very hard to fight through these people. I'm elbowed in the face at least five times and I can practically feel my ribs bruising up. I'm just glad I have on long sleeves or they'd all be in a coma or dead right now.

Just as I reach the edge of this crowd, I'm sent sprawling face-first into the floor. Ow. That's gonna hurt later.

Getting back to my feet as quick as I can, I start looking around for Kurt but I don't see him anywhere. The hall is pretty much emptied out now, which is odd. I don't even see any of my team mates.

The only solution I have is to run for the place I heard that explosion come from. So I do just that, running as hard as I can out to the train platform.

Since it's not as emptied out in here I have to fight through the crowd again. That's when I spot Trask running from Wolverine. Thinking quickly, I hop onto a nearby bench and lunge for Trask as he passes.

Yay! Universe gave me two! And don't forget all that other crap.

I land on his back and quickly wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He falls straight on his face (serves him right) with an MMF sound. I don't really need to do it, but just for kicks I tighten my grip around his neck while I pull my glove off with my teeth.

"Nighty night!" I say cheerfully before touching his forehead with the tip of my finger.

Yuck, I hate this feeling. I only keep skin contact with him for a few seconds before he passes out. But I still keep my grip on him—it wouldn't do to have him turn out to be fakin bacon. I mean, faking it.

I hate mutants. No, no I don't. That's not me, I'm Bolivar Trask. I mean, Rogue. I'm Rogue. Rogue. Rogue. Rogue. Trask. I mean, ROGUE.

"Good job, kid." Logan's gruff voice from above me is talking. It's hard to explain, but I use a technique that Professor X taught me. I use Logan's voice as a sort of rope to pull _me_ back, to remind myself that I'm _me_. That's Logan's voice—I live at the Xavier institute with Logan, my team mate. I like sunflowers and exercise and my friends and washboard abs and not to mention Looney Tunes. I love Looney Tunes.

"I think you're squeezing him a little tight there. You alright, Stripes?" Logan asks, bringing me back to the present.

Logan. My team mate. Because I'm _not_ Bolivar Trask.

I didn't realize that I had my eyes squeezed shut. I open them and look up at Logan. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You should loosen your grip…or not."

I look down at the man I'm still wrapped around—his face is a nasty reddish purple color. Quickly, I let him go and set to work untangling myself.

"Rogue, I've already called S.H.I.E.L.D. but we've got to get out of here before the cops come."

"The cops?" I ask, a little dazed.

"Yes, come on," he reaches down and gently takes my elbow, helping me stand up in the now deserted train platform.

"What about him?" I ask, glancing back at Trask as we walk away.

"You drained him, didn't you? He'll be out for hours. It doesn't matter though; there are people already on the way to get him."

"Where are the others?" I ask, finally getting my mind straight.

"Trask brought some men with him. They were held up."

By 'held up' I suppose that he means they were attacked. I hope they're all alright. I haven't heard any gunshots so that's good. I hope Remy—Uh…nothing. I'm not going to finish that sentence.

I'm not.

Ok, I hope Remy is alright. Believe it or not, I actually care if the doofus/rubber donkey lives. My life would be so _quiet_ without him.

I won't mind if Kitty gets shot in the foot or something though.

I'm _kidding_. I'm not that mean.

"What happened to the 'stay hidden' plan?"

"A man jumped Tabitha and she didn't take it so well."

Well good for her.

Here are the others. Storm, Jean, and Scott are leading the pack, as always. They all look winded, Kitty's hair is a mess, Bobby's coated in ice, Tabitha's looking pissed, and Remy is walking straight towards me.

No one says anything to anyone else as we all start for the door. And for some reason no one says anything when Remy surprises me my scooping me up in a bear hug. I'm just glad that Logan has his back turned. Ah, what the hell. We just had a victory, wouldn't hurt to hug him back.

I do just that and he grins crookedly at me as I do so.

And that's enough mushy stuff.

I let go of him and try to ignore the look I'm getting from Kitty.

…

We meet Kurt back at the jet. It turns out that he caught the guy we had been after and had dropped him off with some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. That's nice. Except for the fact that I'm going to be bruised up something awful in the morning, this whole mission has turned out to be pretty fun.

Holy heck—I'm in a good mood.

I like those. Everything seems so much better when you're in one of those moods. Remy doesn't seem as annoying, neither does Kitty. I can't see why the Wolverine session had been so frustrating earlier. I'm not so worried about Kurt telling everyone that it was Remy and I who had pulled the pranks on Jean and Scott and Kitty.

This is nice. But I am tired.

I've just leaned my head back in my seat and closed my eyes when I hear Remy speak next to me.

"Rogue," he says quietly, "will you go out with me again?"

Normally I'd fight him to the death about it. Probably in a game of Go Fish. Or I'd try to physically fight him until he pinned me down and I told him to kiss me. Or I'd scream at him until I was blue in the face. But it seems like we've already done that. So instead (since I'm in a good mood) I say something I haven't said to him before.

"I'll think about it."

I know it's impossible, but I can swear that I hear him grin.


	13. The Chapter Where A Secret Comes Out

"Thank you all for coming down here…Logan and I have an announcement to make."

Ororo and Logan, who had called all of us into the living room are standing and looking at all of us sitting people. They had called us all in here to 'tell us something' as they mysteriously put it. But I have a funny feeling I already knew what they're going to say.

It's Thursday afternoon, four days since we've taken down Bolivar Trask and I've noticed that Ororo and Logan have been acting weird since then. Or maybe I just noticed it because of Remy told me they've been sneaking around together. I still shudder at that thought.

Amazingly, Tabitha didn't get into any trouble for blowing up the train station. I know, it shocked me too. According to eye witnesses, some strange guy really had just jumped her and she had only been defending herself.

No one had gotten seriously injured (except for Trask's men. But they had been taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D. before the cops got there) and Professor X offered to pay for all of the repairs, so no charges had been pressed against her.

Though I had done the least fighting out of everyone else, I ended up with the most bruises. I had nice black eye and a swollen lip and my ribs were coated in nasty purple marks. Which are now nasty yellowish marks since I'm starting to heal.

This had prompted many of my classmates at school to ask: 'dude, what happened to your face?' to which I replied that I had crashed my motorcycle. They don't know that I don't own a motorcycle, though I wish I do.

But that excuse was better than the one Kitty had suggested: 'fell during a dance contest with Kitty Pryde,' and much better than Remy's suggestion, 'fell out of bed while I was making wild passionate love to a Cajun beast'.

Ha, Cajun beast. That had made me laugh. He is a beast alright.

Speaking of the Cajun beast, I have yet to give him an answer to his question. He's seemed to have lain off a little bit this past week. Other than the Cajun beast comment, all we've shared are good mornings, and nice weather, and hey Rogue, looking good.

Besides, I don't know what to say to him.

Do I want to go out with Remy?

Maybe.

By the way, it's taken me all week to be able to say that to myself. It's also taken me all week to admit to myself these things: Remy is good looking. I think he is good looking. He has amazing abs. Our first date had been fun...most of it anyway.

But I don't like him. Not one bit.

Drat and fiddlesticks, there I go lying to myself again. I have to stop doing that. I like him…a little bit. It's miniscule though, it's hardly even there.

But it is there.

Speaking of our first date, Scott (or any of my other team mates for that matter) has yet to notice the bumper sticker on his car. But I know other people have seen it because Jean and Scott have gone out together every day this week. I haven't asked, but I'm thinking that they're doing this to 'mend their relationship' or whatever. I laugh every time they drive off.

I have completely banned myself from remembering what Remy said about 'borrowing something from Trask'. That is unhealthy thinking. Though I will admit, after the look I got into Trask's head, I know a lot about those little devices. Like, the battery is rechargeable in one of them and it can last up to fifteen years. But then there are others that only last for like an hour and so on and so forth.

I don't know which one Remy 'borrowed'.

I don't want to know. Just because I can (possibly) touch Remy, doesn't mean I'm going to.

"Logan and I," Ororo says to everyone, "are a couple."

DUN DUN DUN!

I look around to see everyone else's reaction to this. Most are gaping at Ororo. Professor X doesn't have any reaction other than a smile and I have to wonder if he already knew. Mr. McCoy looks interested. Remy is looking like he's trying not to laugh.

"And you should also know," Ororo says and I jerk my attention back to her. What else could they have to say? "That we're getting married!" She announces proudly.

"WHAT?" I screech just as Remy bursts out laughing.

I didn't mean to screech, it was just a screech worthy moment.

Many others in the room have the same reaction I do. Everyone is understandably shocked at this news. I mean, I already knew about them being together but I had no idea that it was so serious. That made the image in my head a little better. At least they really love each other. But this bit of news makes me wonder how long they've been seeing each other.

Just as this question pops into my mind, Jean voices it.

"Three months." Ororo answers happily.

Only three months and they're already getting married? Ah, who am I to judge? I'm obsessed with washboard abs. And Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Yum. Oh! Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the washboard abs. Ok, no more thinking about _that_ when I'm in a crowded room.

But maybe later.

"Well…congratulations," Kurt says unsurely.

Everyone looks unsure, but no one says anything of the sort. We've all started congratulating them when Kitty stands up quickly from her spot on the couch.

"I also have an announcement to make!" she says dramatically, "I'm in love with-"

"Kitty, you're being rude," Tabitha points out bluntly.

Kitty stops to see everyone glaring at her. I gotta admit, I kind of wanted to hear what she was going to say, but that really had been rude. Upon seeing our faces, she sits back down on the couch, looking very red.

"So…when's this wedding?" Scott asks.

Ororo and Logan look at each other—and I see it. They really do love each other. Aw…that makes me a little toasty inside.

But I'm still kind of grossed out.

"As soon as possible." Logan announces.

I almost screech again. They're moving so fast it's hard to keep up. Everyone is starting to look a little dazed.

"I'm hoping for next week." Ororo says with a big smile on her face.

These people are going to give me a heart attack. No one has anything to say to this shocking news other than some more congrats.

"You know you're more than welcome to have it here," Professor X says after a few minutes.

"I was hoping you would say that," Ororo replies warmly.

I don't think I've ever seen her (or Logan) this happy before. I've seen them happy, but this is…different. A different kind of happy. You could see it in their whole demeanor. The way they smiled, the way they talked, even the way they held themselves. It's weird, but even their skin looks a little brighter.

That's nice. I'm glad they're so happy; they deserve it. I tell them this as we all get up from the couch and I give them both a hug before going to the kitchen.

I'm hungry. Damn it for being winter because I have the strongest craving for watermelon. And cantaloupe. And strawberries. Good fresh ones. And oo! Peaches.

Everyone else seems to have the same idea I do because I'm followed into the kitchen by half of them.

Kitty and Jean seem to have forgotten their differences at the moment to discuss dresses for the wedding. Oh no, now I'm going to have to wear one. I'm very much a tom-boy so wearing a dress is not my favorite thing to do. I don't even know how to pick out a dress. I don't even know what size I am or how they measure the sizes in dresses.

Maybe I'll just let Jean pick one out for me. That would be ok, just as long as _Kitty_ didn't have any say in the matter. If I let her, Kitty would have me looking like I was ready to jump onto a pole. That would probably make Remy's day.

Or maybe not…I don't know…he's called me beautiful before, but I'm just not seein it. I'm failing to see what's so special about me that draws his attention so much. Perhaps he just really really likes my personality. Yeah, that's it, because I'm such a _charming_ person.

Jean and Kitty are both blocking the door way. This messes up my plan of grabbing a banana and running away before they can draw me into the conversation. Great. Now I'm in here with Kurt, Amara, and Bobby. Amara looks like she wants to get in on the talk but doesn't know where to jump in.

All I can see of Kurt is his bottom half sticking out of the fridge and I can hear his muffled words about there being nothing to eat. Bobby is staring at Jean and Kitty like he's trying to do some hard calculus. Actually, he's looking at them in very much the same way I am.

"Bet you ten bucks they'll end up going to the mall in the next hour," he says to me.

I shake my head disbelievingly at him. "Are you kidding me? I give it fifteen minutes."

Hm, on second thought, Kitty's looking a little green around the gills if ya' know what I mean. Oh no, there's been a little stomach virus going around at school this week; I hope she hasn't caught it. Or maybe I do. No, wait, if she gets it then we all get it. Stupid bacteria.

"You're on," Bobby reaches over and bumps knuckles with me. "Wow, look at em' go. How do they talk so fast?"

"They're demonic, that's how," I say which prompts Bobby to snort loudly.

Jean and Kitty stop and turn to look at us.

"What are you two snickering about?" Jean asks suspiciously.

"Nothing." I say innocently as I notice Kitty's hand go to her stomach. "You ok?" I ask her.

She nods but looks uncertain. "Yeah, I just…what's that smell?"

We all turn to Kurt who's cooking something in the microwave behind us.

"Oatmeal with ranch dressing!" He announces proudly.

That sounds gross. And let me tell you, it smells _lovely_. Everyone stares at Kurt like he's disgusting because right now, he is. I turn back to look at Kitty who is suddenly looking much greener than she had a few moments ago.

"Oh," she clutches her stomach, "I think I'm gonna-"

And she turned and ran from the room.

Haha. Ok, no, that is not funny. It's not.

Really.

…

An hour later, after all hell breaks loose, I finally make it to my room.

And I guess I should elaborate on that comment.

After finding out that Kitty was barfing in the bathroom, Scott and Mr. McCoy went nuts. They pulled out all these cleaners and started scrubbing everything that Kitty had sat on and touched since she had gotten home from school. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they pulled out these cans of disinfectant spray and started spraying the living daylights out of everything.

THEN, they decided to be '_smart_' (see I'm being sarcastic again) and gave us all cans of spray too to 'help out'. Do you think we helped them? HA. Noooo, we started spraying each other with the disinfectant spray out of boredom and ended up having a sort of spray war. That was fun.

It was most fun when we all cornered Scott though and started spraying him all at once. Though it was kind of sad when he asked us to stop and Bobby had sprayed him down the pants. That had ended when Jean had heard him scream and came in to investigate.

We all scattered like ants of course—and it was at that point that Remy had told us to hold on—and then ran off.

After Jean had found us (armed with Lysol) I hid in the bathroom and held Kitty's hair back for her. Then I felt kind of bad about taking her ponytail holders.

"Thank you, Rogue," she said after a long time of hanging over the toilet, "I'm sorry I've been so-" but she was cut off by another—well, you know what.

Twenty minutes later, it was after I had helped Kitty to her room and tucked her into bed that I went back to find the others. Remy arrived at the same time I did to find Jean and Scott on one side of the foyer armed with Lysol and the others on the other side still armed with the disinfectant spray.

And that's when Remy pulled out the silly string.

He ended up being the hero of course—because we defeated the big bad Jean and Scott until they were buried in that string.

It was fun.

I went to check on Kitty one more time (and brought a bucket to put next to her bed) before I finally ended up in my room.

And now here I am. I kick off my shoes and reach for my book bag down my bed when suddenly my hand hits something else.

I pick it up out of curiosity and find that it's the deck of cards that Remy gave me. When he had given it to me days ago I had dropped it and it must have been halfway under the bed ever since.

He had told me to look at it. Why? I guess I'll find out. I pull the lid open and slide them out.

What? What the hell is this? I start going through every card to find that they're all the same thing—the queen of hearts. How…odd. I'm not sure how to accept this gift. I mean, I know the queen of hearts is _his_ card. It's his favorite. But why give me fifty two of them? No, wait, there's also one sole king of hearts tucked right in the middle of all the queens.

It must have taken him forever to buy all the decks to make this. And the effort of picking out every queen (and one king) and putting them all in one box must not have easy. Let's see…there are four queens in a deck and fifty two cards in all. So to come up with fifty one queens he would have to buy…thirteen decks. Is that right? And a box of cards costs about eighty cents so he must have spent ten dollars and forty cents plus tax. No, wait a second, there's only one queen of hearts in a deck so that means-oh never mind.

Why am I doing the math on this?

That was weird.

And so is this gift.

The phone on my bedside table rings, bringing me out of this odd train of thought. Like I've said before, it's weird when my phone rings because most of the people that I know live here. So I'm curious as I pick it up and hold it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"What are you wearing?" Remy answers back.

"What? Why are you calling me? You're in the house!"

"I would come to your room, but you yell at me when I come in there."

Tucking the phone between my neck and shoulder, I walk over to my closet to get a new set of clothes. After all that cleaner, not only are my clothes soaked through, but they also stink. But at least I'm sterile. "I thought you said you liked that?"

"Oh, that's right, I do." He says as if he forgot. "What are you wearing?"

"What?...You _just_ saw me, you know what I'm wearing."

"Yeah, but I thought that maybe since we all smell like we just came out of hospital you would change."

I sigh. "No, I haven't."

"Are you sure? Are you sure you're not naked _right this second_?"

Ok, how the hell does he know that? I turn to look at the door; it's locked and no one is peaking through my windows. But just to be safe anyway I go into the bathroom and lock it.

"I'm not naked, Remy."

I can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "You're naked. You're naked and you're talking to me. Do you know what that means? It means-"

"You better not finish that sentence." I threaten as I jerk on a new pair of jeans.

"Hm…ok. Maybe later."

Maybe later my ass.

Wait…that didn't sound good. I didn't mean that. That didn't come out the way I meant it to.

"So…have you made a decision yet?" he asks me, "Remy's dyin' of suspense."

Oh no…I still don't know the answer to this question. What do I do? What do I do? What do I DOOOOOOOO?

I could accept. I could say, yes, DARN TOOTIN' Mr. Cajun guy whom I've never been nice to, let's go out and paint the town red. Except I wouldn't say it like that. If I said it like that he would probably say nevermind and run off in terror.

If I do accept, he'd probably get up and run off in terror anyway. I mean, it's me. All we've ever done is banter. Well...maybe not, we have had our fun moments. But we've never sat down and had a serious conversation and really got to know each other. When he gets to know me, he probably won't stick around. I'm nothing special.

That was depressing.

OR:

I could say no. I could say no, you crack smoking fruit loop! But if I said this—for one, I don't think Remy is a crack smoker (though sometimes he acts like it) and for two, he would probably like the rejection. And then he would continue on with the ripping off of his shirt like the Hulk to tease me until I completely break and accept to go out with the washboard abs anyway.

Mm, washboard abs. I wish I had a picture of those. If I did, I would put it right above my bed where I could lay and stare at it all day. I can just see myself growing old in my bed and staring at the washboard abs all my life. With Remy by the bed growing old also and continuing to flirt with me of course. If I said no _then_ he might have a stroke.

Ok, I'm getting out of that wacko world now.

But back to question at hand. What do I say?

Of course I choose the secret and incredibly stupid third option.

"What Remy? I didn't hear that." I say before I start making crazy gurgling noises into the mouth piece.

"Rogue, stop."

I make these noises louder. "Sorry, I can't hear you! Oh, tunnel!"

"Why do the noises stop when you talk?"

And that's when I hang up on him.

See, I told you it was incredibly stupid. But now I have to get out of here before Remy chases me down. If he takes his shirt off I might let him catch me. Of course, then he would end up dead from touching my skin. Unless he had one of those—er, gadgets.

At least I'm alone when I think about it this time.

I throw on my shirt and grab my shoes on the way to the door. I'm not sure how I'm going to run downstairs, get a car, and then race away from the mansion without anyone asking any questions but damn am I going to try it.

But as I fling my door open, I'm met with the sight of Remy holding a cell phone and wearing a look of annoyance.

"Tunnel?" He asks me while putting the phone into his pocket.

I stare at him nervously for a second. "You—uh—have a cell phone? You know how unreliable those things are, don't you? I'm telling ya', they won't be around for long—you just wait, they're just a fashion trend. It's just like this crazy internet thing—I'm telling you, it will never last."

"Why are you running away?" He asks, ignoring my rambling.

"What?" I say this as if he's crazy for thinking such a thing. "I'm not running away! I was gonna go…bowling."

"Bowling?" He questions with a raised eyebrow. "Since when do you bowl?"

I've never bowled in my life. But it does look fun. I simply shrug to his question since I don't have a real answer. He rolls his eyes and steps into my room, causing me to have to step back. Aaaand now he's closing the door. And now he's looking at me again. Lovely.

"Go out with me."

"Ok," I squeak.

Wait, why did I squeak? And why did I say ok? It could be because I'm suddenly very nervous and acting like I should be locked up in an asylum. Really, I think I should. I just said that I would go out with Remy LeBeau. That is the one thing I never planned on doing. Even though I kind of want to. NO! Forget I thought that. And here I am, looking like an idiot. Oh yeah, that's because I am an idiot.

Remy is giving me strange look. "Ok? Really?"

"Uh…well maybe-"

"Alright!" He says quickly before I can continue, "Pick you tomorrow at six then, bye!"

Then he jerks the door open and runs off before I can change my mind.

AAAH!

I'm an idiot.


	14. The Chapter With A Lumberjack

Even though I had accepted Remy's date, I spent the next twenty three hours trying to think of a way out of it. But that's just because I'm me. First off, it's just typical of me for being so out of my mind to accept and then I was out of my mind to think that I could get out of it.

But I tried anyway. You know why?

Because I'm an idiot of course.

I wonder if I've always been an idiot and it's just now shining through, or if someone slipped some stupid pills in my food when I wasn't looking. Either one could be possible, of course. But I was willing to bet on the former because the idiocy seems to be deeply buried in my brain somewhere.

Yep.

My plan was to track Remy down and say never mind. Though I kind of disliked myself for this idea, I went ahead to find him anyway. Don't ask why I disliked myself for this. I don't know. But for some odd reason or the other, I felt a twinge of guilt at the thought.

But when I went in search for him, that _sneaky buffoon_ was no where to be found. He had obviously hidden himself somewhere so that I couldn't tell him nevermind. That…monkey butt! He must know me better than I thought he did.

I looked all over the house and grounds for him, and couldn't find him anywhere. I even went into his room but couldn't find him there, either.

Really though, I should stay home and help with the sick people. Wouldn't it be wrong for me to be going out on a date when my friends are so miserable? Both Kurt and Bobby had to come home from school earlier this morning when they also got sick.

It's unnecessary to tell you that Mr. McCoy and Scott had gone crazy with the cleaning again. Of course, they had to go out and buy more cleaning supplies since our stash had been used for useless reasons the day before. They even went so far as to buy these face masks like the dentist uses and wear them while they were caring for Bobby and Kitty and Kurt.

That was weird.

I had mentioned to the Professor that maybe I shouldn't go out, (I didn't tell him who it was with) hoping that he would maybe ask me to stay and help out. But all he had said was a bunch of crap about how I'm young and they have it all under control and then to have fun.

I swear I think Remy has recruited him to the dark side.

That's right, the dark side. I bet Remy and Darth Vader are great friends. I can really see this happening. I bet Darth would be on the other side of the bet—betting against me that is. Though I doubt that he would really fit in at the mansion with all the anger issues and whatnot.

I promise I haven't been smoking anything.

I've just given up on my search for Remy and am walking back to my room when Amara slings her door open just as I pass it.

"Hey, Rogue!"

I turn back to her. "Hi Amara."

"Remy wanted me to tell you-"

"Wait, you've seen Remy?" I ask while wondering how he had snuck past me so well.

She nods and starts trying to pull me into her room. "Yeah, but he's gone now. He wanted me to tell you dress up tonight."

I feel myself paling. "Dress up?" I ask weakly. I don't want to dress up. I don't like dressing up. And on top of all that, I really don't have anything all that dressy to dress up in.

Wow, I said dress a lot of times…I'm nervous and yet my mind still finds it necessary to be random. I'm guessing that Amara must know that I don't have anything to wear—hence the fact that she pulling me into her room.

I allow her to pull me in and shut the door closed behind me.

Apparently, judging by the mountain of clothes piled on Amara's bed, she's already been searching for something for me. I start to bristle at the thought that she wants to dress me up-but then I realize that it could be so much worse. It could be Kitty.

This thought makes me not mind so much.

"What's this?" I ask her, nervous anyway.

"I know you don't have anything fancy so I started going through my clothes," she says quickly, "But what I want to know is what's going on with you and Remy? I thought you said you didn't like him."

I shrug because I'm still trying to figure out how I had gotten myself into this one. I'm thinkin later I'll just tell people that I was stoned. Or possessed. Or I could say that I had amnesia. Or that Remy had somehow forced me into the whole thing.

Instead of saying any of those wonderful ideas, I change the subject. "What do you got?" I motion towards the clothes.

Amara skips over happily to them and pulls up a white tank top and emerald green skirt.

I raise an eyebrow at this. "That's a little too much skin."

"Well yeah, that's why you'd pair it with this fabulous matching sweater!" Amara pulls out the sweater and waves the outfit around dramatically.

Actually, (according to Kitty) that was a cardigan, not a sweater. But I don't say things like cardigan, and I wouldn't call it a cardigan if I wore it. And if I did wear it, I certainly wouldn't tell people that it was a cardigan. And now I'm sick of saying cardigan.

I shrug. "Ok. That's fine."

She pouts at me. "But—don't you want to see the other outfits?"

"No, this one's just dandy," I take the clothes from her before she can change her mind. "Thanks."

"But we have to pick some shoes now!" She says happily while going for the closet.

"No," I wave at hand at her, "I'll just wear my Converse."

She stops and stares at me in horror. "NO! You can't wear tennis shoes with that outfit!"

We argue on like this for quite a while. I fight her to the death of course when she pulls out a pair of three inch high heels. I would fall flat on my face in those, as I tell her. Of course she replies that if I fall, Remy could catch me and be my knight in shining armor. After I rudely tell her that was a big load of you know what, we argue for a few more minutes.

Finally she agrees to let me wear my shoes if she could fix my hair. I say fine. I did not know that this means sitting for fifteen minutes in front of the mirror while we fight about what to do with my hair. I just want to leave it the way it is, she wants to go all out with the curling iron and hairspray. She doesn't understand why I stare at her in horror when she brings out a little tiara or why I flat out refuse to even go near it.

"Rogue, you're not being a very good doll," she complains loudly.

I stare at her. "WHAT?"

She quickly shakes her head. "Nothing."

Then she tries to sit on me and put makeup on my face. This does not go so well either. We struggle for a few minutes and very nearly come into skin contact before I finally just up and run from the room, carrying the clothes with me.

I run next door into my room while she hollers something after me about jewelry.

Now you know why I don't like to dress up.

That whole experience was plain out scarring.

…

Remy arrives right at six, just like he promised. I feel very awkward in my getup—not because it isn't comfortable, but because I haven't worn anything this dressy in a while. I actually like the skirt. It's light-weight and green and reaches just below my knees. But even so, I think I look stupid. Maybe I should let Amara give me some different shoes, but I don't want to go back into the danger zone.

"Bonjour, mon chére beau," he says as I open the door.

I guess he thinks I know French. I took Spanish in high school, so I only know every other word he says most of the time. But it sounds nice anyway.

He looks me up and down as I shuffle miserably out into the hall. "Rogue, you look…well there ain't any words to describe it. I guess the closest thing would be stunning."

"Yeah, whatever," I say, trying to make this date go as fast as humanly possible. "Uh—I mean thanks. You ready?"

Remy nods and glances down at my feet. "Hey, I like your shoes." And he actually sounds genuine about that.

Good grief, he better not be trying to be nice again. Or make me have fun. The last date had been an evening of complete torturous fun and laughs the whole time. Pure torture it was. He better not plan on riding the motorcycle again, not while I'm in this skirt. Though knowing him, he'd try it.

But when I look him over, by the way he's dressed I doubt we'll be riding his bike. He looks creepy. Ok, actually he looks nice, but it is creepy to see him dressed up.

Now if I were Kitty, I would go on for an hour telling you about what Remy is wearing. I would tell you all about it down to the last thread in his socks. Then I would tell you the pros and cons and weigh them out. But I'm not Kitty (thank God) so this is what Remy is wearing: a white dress shirt and khakis.

Somewhere Kitty's head is exploding.

"Then let's hit the ol' dusty trail," I say while motioning towards the stairs.

He gives me a strange look before we finally start towards the garage. The whole time we're walking down there he keeps trying to put his arm around me and I keep smackin it away only to have him try again two seconds later. Then when he tries to take my hand I deliver a kick to his shin.

I'll skip the story about where he had to lean against the wall for a few minutes.

"You're a pistol Rogue," he says as he holds the car door open for me, "but I like it."

I'm the pistol? He's the freaking pistol! He's a big, giant, Cajun pistol if you ask me.

The ride to where ever we're going is…well, actually it's normal for us.

"So, how was your day?" He asks.

I shrug. "Fine."

"How was school?"

"Fine."

"How was your lunch?"

"Fine."

"Will you say something other than fine?"

"No."

"HA!" He actually takes a hand off of the wheel to point a finger at me.

I stare at him. "How was your day?" I ask, though I really don't care. Much. Though I am curious as to where he had disappeared to.

"Dreary without you," he says and gives me a pointed look.

Oh lord, that was so corny. "Where have you been all day?"

"Around."

"Around where?" I ask again.

"Around town."

Fine. I ain't gonna ask him again. I feel a headache coming on. Holy daffodils I forgot my aspirin. That is something I never go without. Especially if I knew I was going to be spending time with Remy or Kitty. Wait, that's the only reason I ever need it.

The rest of the ride went just like this. He kept asking me questions and I kept giving him one-word answers. I guess I should mention that I'm nervous. This is new territory for me. I've only ever been on one other date before, and even though that was fun, I don't know if it really constitutes as a '_date_ date'.

This is a _date_ date. I'm nervous. What am I supposed to do? I've heard Kitty say before that you're not supposed to eat. To hell with that, I'm hungry. I rack my brain, trying to remember all that bologna Kitty says about dating.

Of course, maybe I shouldn't take Kitty's advice right now. This date is gonna be a one time thing. After this, no more Remy. No Remy at all. I just hope this time won't be as fun as the last one.

Ten minutes later, Remy pulls into a seafood restaurant called 'The Great Catch'. On the way in, we go back to me smackin his hands away and threatening his life. Of course when we go inside though, we both have friendly smiles on our faces for the waitress.

And then when the waitress's back is turned we go back to this. I'll skip that story too.

This restaurant is nice, but it isn't like a ten star fancy shmansy everyone's using ten forks to eat kind of place. After I see a few people with their kids and see how everyone is dressed, I realize that it had been completely unnecessary for me to dress up. Damn Remy! I'm never going to listen to any advice he gives me again. If he tells me to dress up, I'm going out and buying a pair of overalls!

Except that I would be mocked mercilessly by the rest of my friends if I wore that. And hey, I wouldn't blame them. If any one of them came up wearing overalls, I would laugh too.

I do like the restaurant though. There's a big, giant aquarium with all these exotic fish at the front. I do not, however, like the lobster aquarium. Poor lobsters.

The waitress sits us smack dab in the middle of the restaurant. Lovely. I don't know why this makes me uncomfortable; it just does. Probably because we're dressed nicely and everyone else was wearing blue jeans.

"Why did you tell me to dress up?" I hiss across the table as soon as we sit down.

"I wanted to look nice for you," he says with a pair of big eyes. I'm starting to feel bad about over-reacting when he snorts and says, "And I didn't want to dress up alone, I'd look stupid if I did it by myself."

I'm about to smack him when a different waitress from the one who had seated us comes up. She's tall and leggy and has a beautiful mane of blonde hair that I can't help but envy. I'm not sure why she's working as a waitress and not on the cover of some magazine.

"Hi, my name is Kristin and I'll be your server," she says to Remy. She doesn't even glance in my direction. And I don't care. I'm just getting mad because…the wallpaper is stupid. "What would you like to drink?"

Remy smiles politely up at her and orders. When it's my turn, she barely glances my way and scribbles my order down before going back to Remy.

"So, do you and your sister know what you want to eat yet? Or do you need a moment?"

Oh no she didn't.

So, I'm sure you remember I'm an idiot, right? Idiots do stupid things. I'm an idiot; so therefore, I do stupid things quite often. Ridiculously often. I swear I have no control over myself. This chick is making me sick, physically sick. I mean, what kind of service is this anyway?

Now, I'm about to do something really stupid.

Prepare yourself.

I slam a fist on the table angrily and stand up. Why? You know why.

"I'm his date!" I say loudly. Loud enough for the people at the other tables to hear.

I'm tellin you, _ridiculously often_.

Startled, stupid Kristin turns to me. Whoa, she's like two feet taller than I am. Forget what I said about being on a magazine, she could have been a lumberjack if she wanted.

Lumberjack Lady is about to say something when I cut her off.

"I'd like a different waitress please." I carefully keep my eyes off of Remy (who is looking like he just won the lottery) and point to another waitress who is passing by us with a big platter of cooked oysters. "How about that one?"

But just as this waitress passes—I smell the oysters. Suddenly my physical sickness for Lumberjack Lady is turning into a very real sickness. Oh holy crap—I _think _I _may_ have caught whatever Kitty, Bobby, and Kurt have. And it's coming on just as fast as there's did.

Ok, deep breath, maybe I don't have that. Remy and Lumberjack Lady are giving me the same curious look.

"Are you ok?" Remy asks, concerned.

I sit down slowly and continue to breathe. I'm doing alright—until I smell those damn oysters again. Turns out the people right behind me ordered them.

"_Bucket_!" I manage to grind out at Remy right before—well, I'm guessing you know what happened next.

I fell onto my hands and knees on the floor and upchucked right there under the table. If this were anyone else I would have thought it was awesome and well…I probably would have laughed at them. But of course the universe hates me, so it's me this is happening to.

Lumberjack Lady freaked out. The people at the table behind me freaked out. Well, pretty much the whole restaurant freaked out. Remy climbed under the table behind me and held my hair back while one of the waitresses screamed something about the carpet.

And the only thought that I find myself holding onto so that I don't become completely depressed, is that maybe they'll make Lumberjack Lady clean it up.

That's a nice thought.


	15. The Chapter With Much Bonding

The next twenty four hours are some of the most miserable I've ever endured. Remy managed to drag me out of the restaurant and drive me home, but not before I threw up in his car three times. I'd thought it was surprisingly sweet of him when he told me not to worry about it until I found out that it wasn't actually his car. It was the one of the Professor's cars, but he was sweet about it too.

I actually was able to get upstairs and into the bathroom connected to my room. And that was where I stayed all night. The cool tile felt nice on my cheek when I laid down to go to sleep on it. I was too tired to get up and go to bed, and really I thought I would get sick all over again if I moved even a little.

I didn't mind sleeping on the floor so much, but I was glad that I had just cleaned it recently.

Remy and Mr. McCoy came in at one point and tried to get me to go to bed but I flat out refused. So instead they brought me a blanket and a pillow and tucked me in as best they could. Then they asked me if I wanted one of them to stay and I may have been a bit rude when I told them that their voices were making me sick. But seriously, they were.

Every fifteen minutes I would wake up, retch, and then collapse back on the floor. I think I got about an hour's sleep, if that much.

The last time this happened, I think it was around six am because the sun was starting to rise. After that I fell into an uneasy sleep and then kept dreaming that I was waking up, getting sick, and then going to sleep. What lovely dreams those were.

It was noon when Remy came in and picked me up off of the bathroom floor.

"No, I can do it," I weakly slap at his chest, still half asleep.

He quietly shushes me before putting me in my bed and tucking me in. Don't say aw. It's not cute.

It's not.

"Is there anything you need?" He asks.

I don't want to talk in fear of getting sick again so I shake my head instead.

"Ok, if you need anything, I'll be right over there. I'm your caregiver." He grins almost _evilly_ as he says this.

I can almost hear the music from The Twilight Zone playing in my head as he makes his announcement. Why? Why? WHY?

"No," I start to protest in a whisper, "can't someone else…'

And that's when I fall asleep.

…

I wake up around six in the afternoon. Remy is sitting in a chair next to my bed watching TV. Which is weird because I don't have a TV in my room. Or cable. But just as I think this, I spot a long cord coming into my room from the hall. So…I guess he had carried a TV in here and then went to the trouble of extending the cord for the cable? Remy must be bored.

"Bonsoir ma belle," he says happily while tilting his chair over in my direction. "How ya feelin?"

"Hit by a bus," I mumble sadly into my pillow. I know that's not an actual feeling, but I feel like crap so screw being grammatically correct. I'm hungry and I want to eat, but I don't want to get sick again. Just as I'm about to ask Remy to leave so I cry by myself, he holds up something for me to see.

"I went to the drugstore to get you all some medicine, and a nice lady there told me that ginger helps sooth your stomach. So I got you some ginger ale."

Just as I'm about to take it from him, the thought of putting something in my mouth and swallowing nearly makes me get sick again. I squeeze my eyes shut tight and try to breathe. Ok, just don't think about food or anything gross. Think of something nice, something sexy.

Washboard abs, nice fitting blue jeans, motorcycles, firefighters, David Boreanaz, the way baseball players butts look in those pants, Johnny Depp, Johnny Depp a second time, and what the hell I'll throw him in there a third time. And also Remy. NO! Well…ok I'll throw Remy in there. He is, after all, the one with the washboard abs.

"Poor chére," Remy says and he reaches over and pats me on the top of my head like I'm a dog.

If I were feeling any better I would smack his hand away.

"Just concentrate on Jack and Rose," he says while motioning towards the TV.

I look that way to see that he's watching Titanic. Why is he watching Titanic? What an odd choice of movie. I'm not sure why it's weird to me that this is the movie that he chose to watch, but it is.

Of course it's on cable so it's the cleaner version of the movie. Why did I mention that? And why is the room spinning? Has my floor always been that tilted? Seriously, I should mention that to the Professor later on when I feel better. That needs to be fixed.

I close my eyes to get rid of that dizzy feeling—it does nothing to help. And though I'm sure I only closed them for two seconds, when I open them again, it's dark outside and dark in my room save for the now muted TV.

Remy is still in his chair, but asleep. His head is resting back against the wall and his mouth is open. I'd laugh if I felt better.

Instead I stumble my way to the bathroom where I get sick and then brush my teeth for five minutes straight. I do _something_ after that, but I'm halfway out of it and can't clearly remember what I just did.

When I come back out into my room, Remy is fast asleep on my bed.

Any other day he would have woken up to me beating him with a baseball bat. But like I said, I'm halfway out of it, and way too weak to push him off—really I'm too weak to care.

He's going to get sick. That's my only thought as I climb in next to him and fall asleep again.

…

When I wake up the next morning, Remy is back in his chair. He doesn't say anything about sleeping in the bed so I don't either. I feel a little better. And when I say little, I mean miniscule.

I still don't think I can handle any food, so I drink the ginger ale Remy had brought. The lady at the drugstore was right; it did help a little.

And then—the oddest thing happened.

Remy and I bonded.

Not over our troubling lives as mutants, not over both of us being X-men, not because we slept in the same bed last night, and not because he was being the sweetest person by taking care of me while I was sick.

We bonded over—

Soap operas.

Yes.

I've never watched one in my life. Apparently neither has Remy. So when we see that they're having a marathon of reruns on what is called 'The Soap Channel' we click on it so that we can make fun of it.

And THEN—strangely enough—we got into the story lines.

Don't ask me why, I'm having trouble figuring it out. But even though they were the classic soap opera story lines that I'd always heard about (Amnesia, in a coma, don't know who the father is, buried alive, kidnapped kids) they were actually able to hold my attention.

And then Remy and I ended up watching two weeks worth (that's ten episodes) of Days of Our Lives in a day.

We made each other swear we would never tell anyone.

Anytime Mr. McCoy or Professor X would come in to check on me Remy would change the channel really quick, but then we would be disappointed when we turned it back and saw that we had missed something.

Then we started arguing.

Not over politics, not over religion, or mutant rights, or anything that normal people argue about.

We argued over who the Salem Stalker, the masked villain that was running around town killing everyone, was.

Normally, if I was feeling my best, that would have been a heated argument, but I eventually just told him to shut-up and watch the TV. Though, if I have to be honest with myself, if I was feeling my best I highly doubt that I would have spent my whole Sunday watching soap operas with Remy.

Then again, maybe I would.

I went the whole day without getting sick once so I was awarded two pieces of dry toast for dinner. It was then that I learned that Scott, Jean, Amara, and Ororo had also caught the bug and were down too.

For some reason Tabitha didn't get sick, and she along with Remy, Logan, Mr. McCoy, Piotr, and Professor X were left to take care of everything and everyone.

I was feeling a little better, which is why I decided that I was going to force myself out of bed tomorrow to make it to school. That is, until Remy argued with me over it, and when I told him he couldn't stop me, he took my alarm clock, walked across the room, and told me to come get it.

What a mean thing to do.

Needless to say, I didn't have the strength to get up and go get the stupid alarm clock. So instead, I made a gesture at him with my middle finger and told him to go do something inappropriate to himself.

…

"I would like to have a conversation with you one day," Remy says to me the next day over lunch.

Days of Our Lives had just gone on a commercial. I'm eating more dry toast with my ginger ale and feeling much less sick and much more tired than I did yesterday. Remy's been freakishly quiet since he came in this morning (he had gone back to sleeping in his own bed) but I didn't ask why.

He's got his serious Remy face on. I don't want a serious conversation. Serious, heartfelt conversations are not my thing and I try to stay away from them. But it seems lately that if Remy wants to do something, there's no use fighting it.

I sigh. No use fighting it at all.

"Ok," I say, "shoot."

Having it right now is as good a time as any, right? I figure it's like ripping off a band-aid. It's better to do it quickly.

That's a complete lie. It's stupid to suddenly out of the blue rip a band-aid off of the spot that you've been trying to heal up. Wouldn't ripping it off make it bleed again? Why are my thoughts straying to band-aids? And why am I questioning my thoughts? Who does that?

Remy looks from me to the TV. "But…Salem…"

He's right. We should finish the show before we start talking. I nod and it comes back from break. Then I'm left to wonder why people on Soap Operas turn _away_ from the person they're talking to.

I mean, seriously, who goes up to someone, starts talking, and the turns their back on them and continues on with the conversation like its normal? It's weird.

And—what the hell? Yesterday that pregnant chick was flat as a board and now she looks like she's stuck a basketball under her dress.

This is some weird TV.

But I like it.

The show ends forty five minutes later and Remy shuts off the TV. Ok, I have to brace myself. It's probably going to be something really, really, really personal. Or scary. Or a mixture of both. Yeah, probably both.

Serious Remy is looking at me.

"OK, I want to know something, and I would like for you to honestly answer me." He says.

Hm, we'll see.

"You know I like you." He says. Oh lord. "And sometimes I swear I think you like me too." Holy crap. "And I thought for a long time that maybe you just won't have anything to do with me because of when I hurt you."

He must be talking about when he kidnapped me, took me to Louisiana, got me to trust him for all of an hour until I found out that he played me the whole time. I still feel a little twinge of hurt when I thought about that, but it had been so long ago, I honestly don't care anymore.

"And then I saw that that wasn't it." Remy says. I have to wonder what he 'saw' to make him think that. "Then I thought it was because you just won't let yourself like anyone. And that is true. You hold yourself back. I saw that you purposely will not let yourself like me."

How the hell does he know all of this?

I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable. So much so that I wish I hadn't said yes to this conversation.

"But I thought I could break through that." He leans a little closer. "And I did."

That's enough. I quickly go to shake my head but he holds a hand up.

"Just…let me finish, please?"

I sigh and he takes that as a yes. I really wish he would stop though.

"You never said it, but I _know_ I broke through. I _know_ I got to you. Deny it all you want, but I _know_ I did."

All I can do is glare heartily at him. He doesn't know anything.

Except that he's completely right.

"But what I don't understand is this." He leans a little bit closer. "I like you, you like me. Your skin, chére, is nothing to worry about. I'm not afraid of it. But even though I'm not afraid of it, I got a way to make that problem go away. Remember when we went to Trask's factory? I got you this." He slips a hand into his pocket and pulls out a er—thing.

It's bright green and kind of looks like one of those glow sticks they have in night clubs, but it's smaller, more compact. I recogniz it immediately. Not from my own memories, but from the ones I had taken from Trask. And along with that image was a bit of information about it.

That thing would last for five years.

But Remy doesn't know that. He has no idea.

"Now, I told you I had this. I thought I made that clear to you." He says while I'm staring at this thing he's holding. "And I guess my question is this: If I like you, and you like me, and there's a way-there's nothing holding us back…why not go for it?"

Well there's a perfectly good reason for that, Mr. Cajun.

It's because…because…

Oh hell, I don't know! But there must be a good reason somewhere buried in my head. And really, Remy is wrong. I don't like him _that_ much. I do like him, but not that much. I should weigh out the pros and cons. Surely the cons will be far greater.

Ok, Pros: He's a great kisser, he brought me sunflowers, we had a really fun first date, he's got an amazing body, we seem to have the same sense of humor, we both like Days of Our Lives, he took care of me while I was sick, and he seems to like me.

Yeah, enough of that. CONS: He can be really annoying. He has no sense of control when it comes to looking through my underwear drawer or my journal, he…flirts too much. And to top it all off he…he…drinks diet soda.

Wait…WHAT? Why is my pro list longer?

"I don't know," I finally snap at him. "I just…don't know. Because."

Remy stares at me. "You don't know?"

I simply nod at this. I don't really know what else I'm supposed to say.

"Ok," he sighs, "But I'm not going to stop."

"Ah, what?" I ask him, a little alarmed.

"I'm not going to stop." He says it a little slower this time. "Not until you're mine. I promise you."

Oh, that is lovely. Despite how tired I am, I feel that familiar rush of annoyance coming at me.

"Why do you want _me_ anyway?" I snap. I would love to know the answer to this question.

Smiling just a little, he finally pulls away again, putting the—green object thing back in his pocket. "Remy don't think you're ready for that answer just yet."

What is that supposed to mean? How could I not be ready for that answer? I'm almost scared to know. And now that he says that, I'm more scared of hearing the answer.

"Why exactly not?" I ask him.

Remy stands up and starts for the door. "I don't want to scare you."

Too late.

"What?" I shriek, but he's already stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Remy is _weird_.

…

**NEXT CHAPTER: Remy and Rogue get married, then divorced, then married again. Kitty confesses her love for none other than the Blob, while Magneto comes onto the scene and now runs his own runway show with his little Chihuahua named Pookiedoodle. Professor X gets out of his wheelchair and walks, only to fall down the stairs and break his back, Juggernaut returns with a maddening thirst for cherry limeades and makes enough for everyone. Wolverine starts break dancing while Ororo watches The Karate Kid and learns how to properly wax a car.**

**^^This^^ is all a lie. At least the part about the name of Magneto's dog. I plan to name it Pookie**_**Snookle**_**.**


	16. The Chapter With The L Word

...

Tabitha drove Kurt, Kitty, and I to school the next morning. None of us were sick to our stomachs anymore, but we were all still very tired. I don't know about the others, but I had to practically dragged myself out of bed and force myself into the shower.

I dragged myself through the parking lot into school, I dragged myself to every class, I dragged myself to lunch, and then I drug myself to my last class of the day where I fell asleep and drooled all over my desk.

The whole day has been a confusing blur—I didn't even take in half of what any of my teachers were saying. Why did they choose TODAY to start talking like the teacher on Charlie Brown? Yes, I realize that they weren't _actually_ talking like that. Or maybe they WERE.

You never know.

But no matter how out of it I was, Remy's words rang annoyingly inside of my head all day. '_I like you, you like me, why not? Let's boogie!_' Or…something to that affect. I told you I was half out of it.

Something about these words fires something up in me. What is that? Oh yeah, ANGER. How could Remy be so sure that I was into him? I kind OF am. But not really. But kind of. Just a little bit.

But what gives him the right to be all—OO I'm a Cajun rubber donkey and you like me! Nothing, I say! NOTHING!

Oh, and I should mention, that when I got home, Tabitha gave me _something. _Some kind of medicine. She said it would help. I didn't ask what it was, but I'm feeling a little loopy. Can you tell? Probably not.

I'm not CRAZY!

But seriously, I have been lying on my bed for the past ten minutes, and I'm pretty sure my wall is moving. It IS. And…my floor still looks crooked. Shoot, I forgot to mention that to the Professor. I wonder if Piotr can fix it. He is, after all, Mister Fix It. Maybe he can take out my floor and put in a new one…But…how will he get the old one out? Maybe he could use a bomb or—I know! He can catch it on fire!

That sounds like a good idea.

He could get his old friend Pyro to help him out with that. And while they're at it, they can get my wall to stop moving. It's giving me a headache.

I (obviously) need some sleep. I didn't really get any last night. I kept tossing and turning as Remy's voice ran through my mind.

There was a way…a way for me to have a skin-to-skin relationship with someone. For the first time, ever. And Remy really seems to like me. And I…have lesser annoyance for him than I did when he first moved here. Or to make more sense—I have a higher tolerance for him. Or to make even more sense—I have a persistent little nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I like Remy too.

But that's the funny thing, I DON'T LIKE REMY.

Oh my…HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD.

No.

NO.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's not true. Shut-up voice in my head, SHUT-UP!

Oh, crap on a STICK-I like Remy.

No I don't.

Yes I do.

No I don't.

YES, I do.

If it weren't for that DAMN soap opera—or his taking care of me—or his ridiculous personality—or washboard abs—or his lopsided grins—or torturously fun dates—or his weird as all get out gifts—or his obvious fondness for me, I wouldn't be in this mess.

And yes, I realize that I've realized that I like Remy before, but lemme tell you, it never fails to shock me every time I remember.

But this time is scary. Because this time it's not just a little bitty liking for the guy, or just drooling over his body kind of liking. I actually, genuinely like him.

But I really shouldn't. Should I?

This is so confusing.

Ok, so I like Remy. Big deal. I also like pizza but you don't see me running off to date pizza.

Oh, that's it! I like Remy, as a friend. Yes, because like in most friendships, we have kissed multiple times—and he has tried to get me to sleep with him. And like most friendships, I would like to see him naked. And I'm genuine about that. Really.

Yes, it all makes sense now. I like Remy as a friend. He obviously likes me a little more than that and—WOW now the ceiling is moving!

…

Ok, I'm PISSED.

What the HELL did Tabitha give me? As if I wasn't already messed up in the head enough, she has to give me something to make me worse? But I have to admit, it did help a lot. Though I did sleep throughout the day, which is something that I don't like to do.

I wake up and roll over to see that it's ten o'clock. I REALLY slept all day. And boy am I hungry.

I actually hop out of bed and walk out of my room. The mansion is quiet, but a few lights are still on, telling me that someone is still up. I don't find out whom, exactly, until I go downstairs to the kitchen to find Professor X silently drinking a cup of tea at the breakfast table.

"Rogue," he sets down his cup to look at me, "how are you feeling?"

"Better actually, thanks," I tell him as I wonder yet again what Tabitha gave me. "I ain't botherin' you, am I?"

"No, of course not."

I walk in and start to raid the cabinets. The only thing I ate for lunch earlier was half of an apple—that was all I had been up for. As I search through the food we have here, I realize that almost everything I see makes my stomach churn.

I'm so hungry.

And where's Remy? He hasn't been nagging at me all day. Or maybe he had, but I had been passed out and missed it. Yes, maybe he came to bug me, saw me asleep, and then went on talking to me anyway.

Maybe those pills haven't worn all the way off.

Oh! I hope he recorded Days of Our Lives while I was at school. If he watched it without me I'm going to be pissed. Or I could just watch it later on the soap channel. Or I can stop thinking about soap operas.

Chicken noodle soup!

And so you understand it better—I found chicken noodle soup to eat.

I dump the contents of the can into a pot and pour milk into it before I sit down across from Professor X.

You probably know this already, but Professor X is smart. And I _know_ you already know this, but I'm an idiot. And do you know what they always do when they have a problem on Days of Our Lives? They have _long_ conversations about it, and usually get some good advice (that they never follow) from their smarter friends.

Now, I have a problem, AND I'm an idiot. Seeing the connection here?

"Professor, can I ask you somethin?" I ask quietly.

Professor X nods and folds his hands on the table. I like when he does that—somehow from that simple move he makes himself look twenty times smarter than the average person. And that thing he does with his eyebrow too—oh, there it is.

_What_ did Tabitha give me?

"Of course, Rogue."

"Right…well…I have this friend," I know, it's lame and you can really see through it, but you can't blame me, I'm an idiot. "Her name is…Lucy. And there's this guy that likes her."

"And what is his name?" The Professor asks me, and I hint a touch of amusement in his voice.

Damn. I knew I wouldn't get away with it.

I stare at him for a few moments before I sigh. "…Remy."

He nods knowingly. "Ah…I thought so."

I clear my throat quickly. "Well anyway, this guy really likes her—I think…and LUCY kind of…likes him." I stare down at the table. "But she doesn't…she's not sure."

"Because she doesn't trust it?" he asks me.

I lift my gaze to meet his. Really, what I'm looking for in this conversation is a plausible explanation as to why I'm so stupid. But that statement opens another door—do I trust Remy? No. No, I don't. I do believe that he has feelings for me, but…I remember things from his head.

Remy is a love and leave em' kind of guy.

I've spent _years_ building up this wall in me—that wall that keeps others out—that wall that doesn't allow me to feel anything remotely intimate for another man. If I couldn't touch someone, then there wasn't any point, so I didn't allow myself to put one part of myself on the other side of that wall.

And then Remy came.

Remy came in this big Cajun package telling me things that no one else had told me, making me think about things that no one else had ever sparked in my mind. He laughs at the same things as I do, we enjoy the same things, we hate the same movie…And he even had a way. He had a way we could touch.

And no matter how good all of that sounded, I still wouldn't come out of behind my wall.

And why not? Hell if I know.

Maybe it's because this isn't a stupid movie where people fall head over heels for each other in day. Maybe because I'm not some brainless ninny who jumps at the first guy who looks at her twice. But while both of those are perfectly good explanations, I still feel like it's something else holding me back.

Wow. See, I told you Professor X is smart. All he did was ask me one question and that made me think a little deeper. This guy is _good_.

I stand up to go stir my soup and stare at the stove as I respond.

"Yes, I think so." I stir for a few more seconds before something else pops into my mind. A third, less desirable explanation. I turn to Professor X sadly. "I think there's something wrong with me."

There really is. SO many things are wrong with me, but when it comes to Remy, there is something not…right in my head.

But Professor X shakes his head. "Rogue, there's nothing wrong with you. Or Lucy," he adds, "people don't learn to love in a day. Just because Remy-"

"WHOA," I interrupt him, startled, "I never said ANYTHING about—_that_."

He gives me a strange look. "About…what?"

"About that _word_ you just said."

Professor X stares at me. I really don't like that look.

"Do me a favor," he says, "say 'love'."

Now it's my turn to stare. Why does he want me to say that? What good is that going to do me? No good, that's what good. NO GOOD! But his brain is like ten times bigger than mine, so he must have a good reason for trying to make me say that.

"You can't say it, can you?" He asks as he continues to watch me with interest.

I mentally scoff at this. Of _course_ I can say love. See? Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Now to say it out loud.

"I can," I tell him, "I can say…the word…the word…I CAN SAY IT!" I might have said that a little louder than I meant to. But I can say it! I CAN! Love. See?

"Ok." He says simply and then just stares at me.

Grrr…

"Lo—" I try it, "LO—" OH MY GOD. I _physically _cannot make myself say it!

This blows.

"It's ok," Professor X tells me. He's wrong; it's NOT ok! I can't say love! I'm more messed up than I thought I was! "You don't have to say it if you don't feel it."

Well…I do feel it. For some people anyway. Like, I love Professor X, Logan, Kitty, Jean, Scott, Ororo, Bobby, Amara, Kurt, Mr. McCoy, Evan, Tabitha…I love all of them and I can't help that—they're my family.

But that love is a different kind of love other than the kind that the Professor is referring to.

I can say it.

I can.

"I don't feel it!" I tell him sharply. "Not for Remy. I don't even like him."

"But you said that you did."

"No, that was Lucy!" I think my voice is getting louder—and also a little squeaky.

Professor X arches a brow at me. "Rogue, calm down. You know I have the utmost respect for you and your feelings. If there was anything that you said that you do not wish to reach anyone else's ears, then you know I won't say anything. I give you my word."

This calms my nerves a little. I hope that no one heard any of that. Especially since I sounded like I was smoking crack.

"Thank you…" I tell him and he nods.

"But I think you should talk to Remy about all of this."

HA. Yeah, that's going to happen. I can't stand to say the L word, how does he expect me to actually openly talk about my feelings? Ha, ha, ha…Oh…I'm so messed up. This whole situation is jacked up.

I quickly shake my head and try not to scoff at my Professor. "No, I can't do that. I can't…"

He sighs in a knowing sort of way. If that makes any sense. I turn to stir my soup again just as the Professor responds.

"Yes, I thought that would be your answer…" He was quiet for a moment. "Have you gone to see Remy? He was asking about you earlier."

I turn curiously at this. "What? Gone to see Remy where?"

"No one told you?"

Obviously not or I wouldn't be asking. Ha, I'm glad he can't read minds. Oh crap—

"Remy got sick earlier."

Of course he did. Stupid bacteria.

…

Would you think I was selfish if I told you that I finished my soup before I went upstairs to see Remy? Um. Ok, I left my soup on the stove and rushed up here. Better? Yeah, probably not but I'm full for the first time in days, which is a good thing.

Am I making sense?

Probably not.

Tabitha. Pills. Enough said.

I knock softly on Remy's door before I slowly open it. I find Remy laying face down on his bed—and _sweet mother_ he doesn't have a shirt on. Ok, just as long as I don't see the abs, I'm fine. Jeez, what is wrong with me? The poor man is helpless and sick and here I am like some pervert—oh lord he's awake.

"Rogue?" he asks weakly.

Aw, poor rubber donkey. He looks so weak and pale and sad. Is that what I looked like when I was sick? I probably looked gross then. And I mean, I'm not going to lie, despite his smokin' bod, Remy looks kind of gross.

AW.

Ok, I need to stop saying that now.

I close the door softly and walk over to his bedside. I am SO going to regret it later, but I sit cross legged on the floor next to him.

"What are you doing?" He asks me in a little whisper.

"I…came to see you…" I answer, though I don't know why he asked that in the first place; I thought that was obvious. If he was going to be nice enough to take care of me when I was sick, the least I could do was come and visit him.

He didn't respond. Instead he got this big grin on his face. What was he grinning about?

Then he groaned and had to put his face back into his pillow. I felt bad; I knew exactly what that felt like. The feeling was still horribly fresh in my memory. After a few moments, whatever he had felt seemed to pass and he looked back over at me.

"So…" I say, "How are you feeling?"

He glares at me. "_Don't_ make me laugh."

I try not to laugh. "Right…Well…Whatcha doin?"

He cracks a smile and squeezes his eyes shut at the same time. "Shut-up."

I laugh silently for moment before regaining my composure. "Ok…Did you record Days of Our Lives today?"

He nods slowly and gives me a quiet 'Mhmm' before giving me a pointed look towards the TV. This was creepy; I'd never seen Remy so silent before…Or heard Remy so silent is more like it. It was very creepy. And also sad….But kind of refreshing.

It took me five minutes to get everything set up. Five minutes because the TV was unplugged and I had to search through a gazillion wires to find the right one. Then I had to search through the tape to find the beginning of the show. Then, not because Remy asked me to, but just because I knew it would help, I went into the restroom and got him a wet washcloth.

He didn't say anything when I came back out with it, but he did give me a grateful look when I placed it across his forehead.

Finally, I sit back down again on the floor by his bed and press play.

And that's when the door opens.

I fling myself at the remote and start pushing every button I can to make it go off. I turn up the volume, press fast-forward, and then eventually change the channel before I manage to turn the TV off. Poor thing's gonna blow up if I'm gonna be the one working it.

I can hear Remy snicker at my side as I turn innocently to see Mr. McCoy.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," he says apologetically, "just wanted to see if Remy is ok."

I turn to Remy to see that he has his face in his pillow again.

"He's ok, I got it," I say, turning back to Mr. McCoy.

He stares at me for a moment and then smiles. "I thought you would."

And then he walks away, closing the door behind him.

What?

"Press play," I hear Remy mumbling. I turn to him as he continues quietly, "I want to see who the killer is…I still think it's that kid."

I roll my eyes at this. "It is not!" I say, but then I realize that now is _probably_ not the time to start up our previous argument. Day before yesterday he had sworn that the sweet kid that everyone loved was the secret killer running around town.

I'm not getting back into that conversation.

"Is to," he mumbles and I just roll my eyes again.

It takes me a second to get everything fixed back, but finally I get it all ready and press play.

…

**Next Chapter: Logan see's **_**something**_** that makes him want to murder. **


	17. The Chapter With The Sunburn

Ok, I can do this. I can. Just concentrate—that's all I need to do. Breathe in the good—breathe out the bad. Yes, that helps. I can do it. I'm a strong woman—I'm an X-man for crying out loud! Yes, I go out and I can kick some serious ass. All I have to do is touch them, and BAM! They're out. SO, if I'm able to do _that_ then I should most certainly be able to do _this_. OK, deep breath, and—

"I…loooo…lo…lo…AH!"

Damn it all to hell! I can't say the freaking word no matter how hard I try! NO! That is bad thinking—I can do this.

Scrunching up my nose, I glare into the bathroom mirror determinedly. All I have to do is think of something I really love and I'll be able to say it. Ok…I love…I love my dying sunflowers. I really wish they wouldn't die.

Ok, here I go again.

"I…" I glare at my reflection, all the while painfully aware how stupid this all is. I mean, seriously, I should be able to say this. Normal people know how to say it, so why can't I? Good grief—I'm not even saying 'it' to anyone, I'm just here alone in the bathroom staring at myself.

Wait—I am downstairs, this is the bathroom everyone uses. Anyone could walk in at any second and see me doing…_this_. This thought brings my attention to the door to see if it's locked. Son of BISCUIT—it's completely unlocked!

I quickly reach over and lock it, pulling on the door to make sure it's secure—just for good measure. Then I turn back to the mirror.

"You're stupid." I tell myself. There, I can say stupid, but I can't say love. "You know what you feel for your sunflowers?" I mutter at my reflection, "Other than feeling sorry for their impending death of course." Now I'm talking to myself. This isn't a bad sign of my half intact sanity. Noooo, not at all. "YOU—ROGUE," I tell myself firmly, "feel something for them called….called…Lo-"

"Rogue, are you almost done in there?" Kitty yells loudly as she bangs on the door, shaking me from my thoughts.

_Kitty_.

Kitty is the reason that I'm in here torturing myself in the first place. It had come down to a choice between Kitty's torture and my own personal torture and I had (obviously) chosen mine.

After school today, Kitty had dragged me into the living room and shoved a dress catalog under my nose. She kept telling me that I had to choose a dress for the wedding. Which, by the way, has been set for March fifteenth. That's only six days from now, so Kitty who is now healthy again, is going crazy over picking a dress to wear.

She is trying to kill me, I swear. She came to me day before yesterday and started begging me to help her pick a dress. I had managed to avoid it so far. Every time she would come up, I would use the excuse of homework or training sessions, or going to check on Remy. Although Remy didn't really need to be checked on so much anymore, I would go into his room to hide from Kitty.

Half of the time when I would do this, Remy would either be asleep or too weak to care I was there. And the other half of the time we would watch soap operas in secret.

It had been two days since he had first gotten sick and he was almost better, though still tired like I had been. He had barely spoken—which was weird—but I remembered how much energy it had seemed to take to say one sentence.

"Rogue, are you hiding from me?" Kitty yelled and banged on the door again.

Groaning, I walk over and fling the door open, stopping her in mid-knock.

"Yes, actually I was." I tell her rudely. "Can I just pick a freaking dress without you telling me which color would best go with my complexion?"

Kitty gave me a disapproving look and placed her hands on her hips. "Rogue, I'm only trying to help. You can't wear black to a wedding."

"I wasn't tryin to!" I snap. Which was a lie. I had tried to pick a black dress. And Kitty had yelled at me.

"Yes you were!" She replied before taking hold of my elbow. "Now let's go and pick something out. We have to decide today to be able to get them back in time for the wedding."

With a load groan, I jerk my arm away from her grip and stomp back into the living room. Ororo, Jean, Amara, and Tabitha are in here looking through dress catalogs. Ororo had told us that she didn't really care what we wore, just as long as it was something nice. And something she approved of.

She had told us earlier that she had already picked a dress—which I found weird. They must have been planning on this wedding for longer than I thought.

When I enter the room, I notice that all the other girls seem to be hiding their faces behind their magazines. I wonder what the heck they're doing until I hear one of them snicker. Of course. They're laughing at me. Or at Kitty. Or at me and Kitty.

I jerk a random catalog off of the table and start flipping through it without looking at the pages.

"Whatever page I open is the dress I'm getting!" I tell Kitty who glowers at me.

Finally I stop and look down to see which one I've picked. Of course. It's a dark red, backless number with spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline. Growling, I start flipping through it again to pick something else. Remy would probably have a stroke if I wore that.

"Rogue, stop it." Kitty snaps. "Stop IT! You can't pick a dress like that!"

"Watch me!" I snap right back before I stop flipping the pages and look down at the dress again. Oh HELL no. It looks more like a pink tutu than a dress. I wouldn't be caught dead in that.

I slap the magazine shut and toss it down in front of Jean.

"Jean, wanna pick a dress for me?" I ask her politely.

Jean shrugs. "Sure. What exactly do you want?"

"WHAT?" Kitty shrieks.

"I honestly don't care." I tell Jean while ignoring Kitty. "Just, whatever you do, do NOT let Kitty pick it."

"Sure thing." Jean smiles and I thank her.

Then I turn and run back out of the room to get away from Kitty. I hope Ororo doesn't think I'm running away from her—she was the one who had asked if we wanted to look at the dresses today. I _might_ have enjoyed it (and that is a _big_ might) if Kitty hadn't complained every time I showed interest in a dress.

Ok, I have to admit, they had all been more on the…modest…and darker shaded side. But she said that navy blue clashed with my personality aura. Whatever that meant.

I'm so caught up in these horrible memories that I don't notice that I've brought myself to Remy's door. Well…My mind is drifty today…I should really lay off the pot.

I'm _kidding_.

But I haven't checked on Remy since before I went to school this morning, and then he had been sleeping.

I should go in and see him.

But then again, I have homework.

Or I could go in and see him.

Or I could go do my homework.

Or I could—HOLY CRAP!

I jump backwards when the door opens and Remy is grinning at me.

"Hi!" He says happily before grabbing me by the arm and dragging me in. He shuts the door before he turns back to me.

Pulling my arm from his grasp, I stare at him. "You know, anyone who just saw that out in the hall is going to get the wrong idea."

"Or the right one," he says before he takes two steps and is five inches from my face.

Whoa. I stumble backwards to back away from him—and it's me so of course I trip—and of course I land on my behind on his bed. This he seems to like. He looks like that cat on Alice in Wonderland—the Cheshire one. By the way, that movie scared the _hell _out of me. I'm not kidding. I had nightmares for a week—oh crap I forgot Remy.

He moves quickly towards me—placing a hand on his bed on either side of my hips. This brings him uncomfortably close and I have to lean backwards to get away.

"You're feeling better," I say, trying to sound bored and unbothered by his actions. But believe me when I say IT BOTHERS ME.

"Mhmm," he says, "You look so-"

And that's when someone starts pounding on the door. Remy pulls his arms off of the bed and stands up straight—just in time for Logan to bust in.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?" he roars.

All I can do is stare in horror up at him. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! He's only been here for three seconds, but everything that I know is going to happen as a result of this has gone through my mind.

Wanna know?

Probably not. But you're gonna hear it anyway.

There are several different things that could happen—I can't be too sure which one of them will come to be, but I'm sure one of them will.

Remy could die. And when I say die, I mean Logan is going to completely lose it in a second and cut his head off. Or if he missed and cut my head off instead, I would die. That would solve the problem…For me at least. Logan would probably get into some trouble…and they would have a heck of a mess to clean up.

OR…Logan could go and tell Professor X that we were in here necking or something—and as a result get Remy kicked out of the mansion. Though that was kind of stupid; why would he get kicked out of the institute for that?

OR—we could all suddenly break into song. Yes, I know this is a long-shot, but last night I saw this episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where they did that, and I liked it.

Whoa—I think I went a little too far into my mind there for a second. That can never be a good thing.

Logan is a scary guy. He's only like two inches taller than I am, but good god when he wants to be menacing, he's terrifying. But hey, if worse comes to worse, Remy and Logan both have impressive skills, at least I'll get to see a good fight.

I'm terrible.

I shoot up off of Remy's bed and start with my defense.

"Nothin! We weren't doing anything!" I say quickly…and maybe a little guiltily.

Logan is fuming. "I saw him reach out and drag you in here!" he growls. "Don't lie to me, Rogue."

I could tell him that Remy didn't mean anything by it. But boy would that be a lie.

"I'm not lying!" I lie, "Look, I just came in here to check to see if he was better. And he is!" I wave dramatically over at Remy. Who, by the way, is just standing there and not helping me out at all. He…oh no. He looks like he's thinking.

Logan growls again. "Then you can leave the door _open_ next time."

"Excuse me." Remy speaks up. Oh please no. Not saying anything at all would be his best bet at staying alive. I'm about to JUMP on him and DRAIN him—it's the only solution that I can come up with to keep him quiet—when he speaks before I can stop him. "But isn't Rogue eighteen?"

Horrified, I chance a sideways look over at Logan whose expression hasn't changed. Except that he looks ten times madder of course.

"And eighteen is a legal adult, right?" Remy says. He might as well be prodding an angry bull in the eye.

"NO!" Panicking, I interrupt and step between them. "Of course it's not! Or…wait it is…But who wants ice cream? Ice cream sounds good right now!"

"CAJUN!" Logan roars and with a _snikt_ sound, his claws are out.

Holy _hell_ what does he think he's gonna do with those? If he looked scary before, it's nothing compared to what he looks like now. Wait a second…why am I scared? It's not me he wants to kill. Remy created this problem, I say let him deal with it.

Logan starts forward—I stumble backwards into Remy—and that's when I hear the glorious sound of someone running down the hall.

Two seconds later, Ororo swings into the room looking slightly disheveled. "What's going on?" she asks worriedly. "I heard yelling."

And just to make this whole situation better, she's followed by Kitty, Tabitha, Jean, and Amara. They all lean in the doorway and look curiously in at us. And that's when I realize what this must look like—or what I look like. I'd stumbled into Remy and stayed there—Logan was in front of me looking very pissy indeed. It probably looked like I was protecting Remy.

Ugh.

Upon realizing this, I of course pull away to stand next to him instead. I doubt this does anything to make us look less guilty.

"These two were in here having sex!" Logan motions towards us with one clawed hand.

I feel my mouth drop open at this. Of all the things he could have accused us of, it had to be _that_? We didn't even have time to be doing that. We didn't have our clothes off to do that. And most importantly, we didn't have the proper protection to do _that_.

Ororo seems to realize this too as she rakes her gaze over us. "Logan," she says calmly, "they don't look like they were-"

"You didn't see what I saw."

Becoming extremely irritated, I snap. "You didn't see _anything_!" I yell, "Even if there was somethin, it ain't none of your business!"

Oh fishsticks. I shouldn't have said that. Logan looks like he's about fit to crap a brick. Ororo seems to see this too and moves to stand in front of him. Then she starts talking quietly to him. If I had listened harder I might have been able hear, but I didn't try. Instead I glance over at Remy who looks like he's trying not to laugh.

THAT MOTHER TRUCKING—wait, what is he doing now?

Remy yawns and stretches one arm in the air…but the other hand goes down to bottom of his shirt. I should really look away. But I don't because I'm an Idi—oh never mind, you know what I am.

Remy's hand goes down…and then his shirt goes up. To anyone else it looks like he's scratching his washboard abs. Oh….let me look at em for a second…

Ok, I'm back.

To anyone else it looks like he's just scratching himself. But I know that he's trying to tease me—I could see that from his pointed look at me and the lifted corner of his mouth. Thinking about the others in the room makes me turn away from this. I'm just glad that Logan didn't see that. It seems that all the girls in the doorway did though.

I slap a hand to my forehead.

That's the only amount of thought that I'm going to have on that problem for now.

I don't know how she does it, but Ororo calms Logan down. And when I say calm down, I mean she got him to retract his claws and stomp out of the room angrily. She turned to apologize before she left.

The girls at the door stare at us for a few more moments before following.

That was when Remy walks over and closes the door.

"Well that was fun." he says happily.

I narrow my eyes at him. "That was not fun! I'm going to end up getting a lecture later. He's probably going to tell the Professor."

Remy shrugs before starting towards me again. "Wanna finish what we started?"

"NO!" I glare at him and hold an arm out in front of me.

He continues walking until my palm comes in contact with his chest—and there he stays. I would pull my hand down, but I'm afraid that he would take the opportunity to come at me again. So I keep it there…on his hard chest. Hard with muscles. Toned muscles. Very nicely toned muscles. And just a few inches below that was the abs. The washboard abs. They're not just abs, they're _washboard_ abs. I should stop thinking about it.

No, what I should do is get out of here. If Logan got the wrong idea before, everyone is going to get the wrong idea now.

But just as I think of moving for the door, Remy speaks.

"Kiss me."

If he had said that when he had his shirt off, he would probably have a lap full of Rogue. BUT, I'm smart. Well, maybe not, I'm actually quite stupid when it comes to things like Remy and washboard abs and kissing said washboard abs. I mean Remy. But I am smart enough to know that I shouldn't kiss someone only because I find them attractive.

Well actually, I shouldn't be kissing anyone at all with the whole deadly skin deal.

"No," I tell him while firmly pushing my hand against his chest when I feel him trying to move forward.

"Just do it." he says in an almost bossy tone.

"Um…Let me think about…I'm thinkin…no."

He pushes at my hand again but I hold firm.

"Kiss me."

"No!"

"Kiss me."

"No!"

Sighing, he reaches his hand into his pocket and pulls out Trask's device. "Look, we're safe. You ain't got to worry about nothin."

"Yeah," I say weakly when I see this, trying to think of a reason why we shouldn't. Don't ask me why. But it's a bad idea. What if Logan came back in? "BUT—" I say loudly when he starts forward eagerly, "I don't—it's a bad—I can't—I don't like you…that way."

He lifts an eyebrow. "That way? Meaning that you _do_ like me in one way or another."

I clear my throat awkwardly. "Well…Maybe…In a VERY platonic way."

He grins. "That's good to hear. I like you both ways," he says, "platonically and in a way that I'd like to rip off all of your clothes and-" I won't repeat the rest of what he said. It's that graphic. And enough to make my face, neck, and ears burn red. I won't say ANY of what he said, but I can tell you that it ended with—"like an animal."

"REMY!" I burst out in indignation.

He looks at me innocently. "What? I was just being honest about my feelings."

"Well stop it!" I yell again.

"Be my date to the wedding." he says suddenly.

I blink at this rapid change of subject. "No!"

He pouts. "But we didn't get to finish our other one. It made me sad."

"Well I was going to finish it," I say, but it was lie, "but now that you've gone and said all that foul stuff to me, I don't think you deserve it."

He pushes against my hand again as he tries to come forward. "You liked it. It made you blush."

"I hated it, and…I have sunburn."

"Funny, your sunburn is almost gone." he remarks. "Go to the wedding with me."

"No! Not going is your punishment for being so dirty minded."

He smirks. "You could always spank me instead."

And my sunburn is back.

"_Remy_," I say warningly.

"Go to the wedding with me."

"No."

"Please?"

"Well…um…NO."

"You're mean."

"You're perverted."

"You're pretty," suddenly, grabs me by the wrist that was holding him back and jerks me flush against him. Oh NO. Ok, I'll be fine. I can control myself if I just hold my breath (so I that I can't smell him) and try not feel anything. And whatever I do, I can't let him kiss me.

Or, the best thing to do would be not letting him do that thing he does with his hands—or his mouth.

Before he can get any of that done, I start struggling in his grip, but he doesn't fight, which surprises me. Instead, he sighs and lets me pull away, but keeps a hold of my wrist.

"Watch this," he says, and before I can stop him, he rips off my glove and presses a hot kiss to the palm of my hand.

Holy shnikeys.

I can't believe I just used the word shnikeys.

And I also can't get over the fact that I'm letting Remy kiss me _again_ for the fourth time.

And also that that I'm in skin contact with someone and they're not dead of course.

Why wasn't _that _the first thing to pop in my head?

Remy pulls away and meets my gaze. "See," he says and takes my hand into his. "You can't hurt me." I just watch as if I'm in a daze as he brings my hand up to cheek and lets it rest there.

He says something…But I don't quite catch what he says—my heartbeat is suddenly pounding very loudly in my ears. I don't really understand why though, all I'm doing is touching his face. On his skin. His skin. My skin is touching his skin.

Sorry if that's annoying but I just can't get over it. I know I've touched his skin before, but I knew I was safe then—I knew it was temporary.

And _that's_ when it hits me.

This could never last forever.

Even if I said ok, and I let him…it would only be for five years. That's how long the little device he was holding would last. Oh wow…I can't imagine spending five years with Remy; I think I'd kill myself.

But back to the topic.

_Hypothetically _what if it went really well and we did last for five years? What would we do once those five years was up? And—if I dare think it—what if we somehow had kids in that time? What would I do once I couldn't touch them—Ok, I can't do it. I can't even think about that insane world.

Because none of that is ever going to happen. And if it did, it certainly wouldn't be in five years time.

I think too much.

But I am right about two things. This can't last forever, and eventually that thing in his hand is going to quit doing what it's doing for me right now.

Reluctantly, I pull away.

He watches the progress of my hand as it drops back down to my side almost…sadly.

"What did you say?" I ask, remembering that he had said something when I couldn't hear him.

He's quiet for a moment before he finally looks back into my face. "I asked if you would go with me to the wedding." He says quietly.

Oh come ON, he can't look at me like that! I quickly look away from him at the door. I will not allow that look to turn my heart to mush. It's already a little mushy.

"Um…well," I say awkwardly, "I just don't think it would be a good idea…"

I hear him let out a sigh. "Ok then." he says. Before I can say anything else, he walks over to the door and opens it for me. "I guess you should go now."

I don't budge. He's lookin really sad and I don't like it. I don't like leaving things off on a bad note—especially not after we've enjoyed each other's company all week. And I really don't like that he won't look at me.

"Are you ok?" I ask him and he nods.

"I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Believe me, I'm all sunshine and daises over here." he says in a very sarcastic tone.

We stare at each other for a few moments. I don't know why, I don't know what I'm expecting to happen. Finally, he looks away and down at his feet. I hate doing it, but I walk for the door. Just as I'm passing through it, he speaks again.

"I hope you don't mind, but I'll probably get another date to the wedding."

I spin around and gape at him. "WHAT!" I screech. HE BETTER NOT! Uh…I mean…that sounds _lovely. _UM…I mean, I hope…he…has fun.

Her however, I hope she rots in hell.

That's when I notice that he's got that look on his face—the Satan's Cousin look. But he doesn't say anything. No, he just stands there with that look—that _evil_ smirk and I know he must just be messing with me, just to see what I'd say.

"Uh…" I stutter, "I…um…are you serious?"

He doesn't look very sad anymore. No, just _extremely _evil. He slips his hands in his pocket and leans on the door frame. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asks, and I can see that he's enjoying this.

I have no answer for this. I'm not sure what to say back to him. But he's probably joking…surely he's joking. Surely.

"Fine Remy, do whatever you want." I turn and walk quickly away from him back down the hall.

But I'm not worried. He's messing with me, he wouldn't get another date. Not right after asking me out.

No, I'm sure he's joking.

…

**Next Chapter: Coconuts. Lots and **_**lots**_** of Coconuts. And also, Kitty's secret is revealed. Kind of. But not really. But kind of. But you'll probably have a pretty good idea of what it is. **


	18. The Chapter With All The Jealousy

…

Three days later, it turns out that Remy wasn't joking. He told me so. Whether I believe him or not is not the point—the point is that he went out of his way to not only get another date just to bother me, but that he actually came and told me about it. And he didn't just tell me that he had a date, he told who his date was.

"Remember the waitress from our half date?" he asks me teasingly while leaning on the doorway to my bedroom.

Something in my stomach drops when I hear this. He asked out Lumberjack Lady?

Well.

I'm sure once he's spent one date with her he'll forget all about _me._ Maybe that's for the best though. And besides, I don't want him, so why am I getting upset? He's not_ mine_ I can't tell him who to go out with.

But…_Lumberjack Lady_? Why?

I try not to let any of this show on my face, but I'm finding it too hard to fake a smile.

"That's…great," I say tightly, "I hope you two fall in love and have lots of babies."

Why is my voice suddenly so high?

"You're jealous." he smirks. "I like it."

Of course he likes it; he seems to enjoy my misery. Not that I'm in misery. Why should I be in misery when I'm the one who told him that I didn't want him? Why should I be in misery when he had asked me repeatedly to be his date and I said no every time?

The answer is clear. I'm not in misery.

I'm just completely off my rocker _insane_ with jealousy. And not because Remy is going out with another woman. No, that is not it. Even though I do have a tiny liking for Remy, I'm not jealous that he's asked someone else to be his date. No, I'm jealous because I won't ever have anything like that. It's just not going to happen for me.

I'm so depressed.

"I'm not jealous," I tell Remy quickly, "I really do hope you two are happy together."

He stares at me for a long moment before nodding. "Ok, thank you, I appreciate that."

I really feel like hitting something right now. Or someone. Preferably a tall blonde woman that is going out with my Cajun. UH—I mean—_the_ Cajun. Not mine, THE. I didn't mean to say that. Let's just forget it now, shall we?

I grip my door handle and start to push it closed. "Alright, well, I have to get ready now." I tell Remy.

"Ready for what?" he asks stopping my progress of closing the door.

"Ororo's bachelorette party."

Honestly I don't want to go. But Ororo asked me two days ago if I wanted to and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. My thoughts immediately went to twenty screaming drunk women and a stripper, but Ororo assured me that it was going to be a 'family friendly' party so I said ok. It would be at her sister's house and I'd only met her once, but she seemed like a 'proper' lady and I couldn't imagine the party being too wild.

Remy stares at me. "Are you serious?"

I don't know what the look was for but I nod. "Yeah…"

What do people do at a bachelorette party if there's no stripper? Beats me.

"You're goin to a bachelorette party?" Remy asks as if he's trying to understand it better.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" I'm startin to get a little irritated.

He stares at me again. "You do know that you're going to see a stripper?"

I could feel my face getting hot at these words. It doesn't bother me to think about it on my own, but having Remy say it was…different. "They said there wasn't goin to be any strippers."

He grins slowly. "They lied."

"Ororo wouldn't lie." I tell him confidently.

He shrugs. "Then she doesn't know."

Oh my god he's probably right. What kind of bachelorette party doesn't have a stripper?

"Just…do me a favor," he says and he takes a step closer. "Please don't go and fall in love with a stripper."

He didn't wait for an answer; instead, he winked and then walked away down the hall.

I roll my eyes as I close my door. Of course I'm not going to fall in love with a stripper; I can't even say the word, so how can I ever possibly feel it? Speaking of which, I am giving up on it. If I'm so messed up in the head that I can't say that one word then there's just no helping me.

I need some serious consoling…or shock treatment therapy—whatever works.

Wow, I've just started talking and the word 'stripper' has come up about a hundred times.

And why is Remy asking me not to get it on with the stripper? He's going out with Lumberjack Lady and if he acts anything with her like he does with me, then they're going to be 'getting it on' within the first five minutes of their date.

Hell, maybe they already have. Maybe he planned on asking her out the moment he saw her when we first went in that restaurant. I would like to doubt this. I should. He has, after all, been trying to get me for a month, even after meeting Lumberjack Lady. But she was so pretty—a lot prettier than I am—and there's no way that it couldn't have crossed his mind the moment he first saw her.

I mean, if I was a guy…

Ok, I'm not gonna go there.

But, I ain't lyin when I say this:

I am not jealous.

Even if I was, it would be really stupid. I don't want Remy, but I don't want anyone else to have him? That's just dumb. Remy can go out with whoever he wants to and that's fine by me. He could date the queen of England for all I care…Except that would be kind of weird.

I'm not jealous.

And this whole thing with Remy and Lumberjack Lady and the fact that I'm not jealous has nothing to do with my choice of attire for this evening. I just want to be festive, and happy. It's a party for Pete's sake, I should have some fun.

That's why I pull out the red, low cut top that Kitty lent me weeks ago.

Not so that I can attract a man to bring to the wedding with me. Because that would just be petty. And it sure would prove that I was jealous and trying to make Remy jealous too. But I'm not jealous and I'm not petty, and I don't want to mess with Remy, so that is NOT the reason that I am putting this shirt on.

Whoa, I forgot how low that neck-line went.

Oh well.

A knock at my door interrupts my scrutiny in the mirror. Half expecting Remy, I walk over and open it. It's not Remy though, it's Kurt. He doesn't wait for me to let him in; instead he steps in quickly and shuts the door behind him. Then he stops short as he takes in my appearance.

"Why are you dressed like that?" He asks me worriedly as he looks me up and down.

I shrug, trying to pretend I don't know what he's talking about, but I can feel my face getting red. Note to self: put on a jacket before going downstairs. It would not be good if Logan saw this. Or any of the other guys for that matter.

"What's wrong with it?" I ask Kurt innocently.

He shakes his head and looks away. "Nothing, just uh—pull this up a little-" he motions toward his collar while staring up at the ceiling.

I glance down—oh. I guess that should be pulled up a little. I don't want to sound gross but…do my breasts get bigger when I put this shirt on? I know that's impossible, but I could swear that they do. After I reach down and pull my neck-line to a semi-respectable level, Kurt finally looks at me again.

"What's up?" I ask him.

He smiles. "I just overheard a conversation between Kitty and Remy."

I narrow my eyes at him suspiciously. That sounds normal, but why is he coming strait to me and telling me about it? "Why are you telling me this?" I ask.

He shrugs nonchalantly. "I just thought you should know. Don't you want to hear what they said?"

Hm…Something about this isn't right. It's just…weird. I take a step closer, studying his face. He's blinking too much. "Did Remy and Kitty pay you to come in here and tell me something, just to get my reaction?"

He stares at me for a moment before grinning. "Yes."

"And you were going to do it?"

"Well not anymore." he says, "I overheard their conversation, but they caught me. Then Remy gave me a twenty and told me to come and make something crazy up to get your reaction."

I sigh at hearing this. "What did he want you to say to me?"

Kurt grins again. "He wanted me to say that I heard him talking to some girl named Kristin on the phone-"

"Ok, that's enough." I say quickly. I don't want to hear anything else about Lumberjack Lady. Enough of her. I'm sick of her. "What did you actually hear?"

Before answering, Kurt puts his ear to the door and listens. I guess he doesn't hear anyone, because he leans forward and says quietly, "He's only going out with that woman to make you jealous, he doesn't actually like her."

YAY!

Uh…I mean…um…I don't care what he does. He can go out with anyone he cares to for whatever reason and it doesn't mean chicken squat to me.

Squat.

Oh hell…I think I'm—

"Kitty didn't like the idea," Kurt continued, breaking my train of thought, "But Remy said he was sure you would be his within the next week."

Oh does he NOW? Little does Remy know that I'm not jealous and none of this bothers me. But if he wants to deliberately torture me by going out with Lumberjack Lady (not that it tortures me in ANY way) then two can play that game.

Mwuahahaha…Oh yes, TWO can play that game.

…

An hour later, it's time to go.

I grab my coat and walk for the door but don't put it on yet. No, not yet. Because—well, you'll see. I don't go my normal route for the stairs. Instead, I take the ridiculously long way around across the landing so that I can walk by Remy's door. Noticing the door open, I walk by…but he isn't in there.

Blast it.

Well I guess my evil plan has come to a crashing halt. Oh well. The others are probably waiting downstairs for me; I need to get down there anyway. Sighing, I walk down the hall—and that's when I see Remy walking back from the other direction.

Suddenly I don't want to do it anymore. Maybe I should put my coat on…

Remy stops dead in his tracks and stares at me with an open mouth.

Haha. I continue to walk on by him as if nothing is out of the ordinary…except for my breasts of course.

"What do you think you're doing?" Remy says finally, prompting me to stop and turn back to him.

"What?" I ask innocently.

He slowly rakes his eyes over me before gulping audibly. This makes me a little uncomfortable, yet a little satisfied to know that my half-ass plan is working…so far anyway.

"You can't go out like that." He says when he finally looks back into my face.

That bugs me. I hate when people tell me what to do. Or in this case, what I can't do. "Of course I can," I tell him as if I still have no idea what he's staring for. I really don't though. I mean, the shirt is a little more low-cut than anything I've ever worn, but it's not _that_ bad.

"Please don't go out like that," he says to my chest, "come in my room instead."

Yes, because that would end well…Washboard abs.

I shake my head at this, though he probably doesn't see since he won't look up. Ok, he's seen what I'm wearing, that's enough. I pull my jacket on and button it up. He watches this progress with great interest until I've done the last button.

"Want to see it in reverse now?" He asks and motions to my buttons.

I glare at him in return. "I'm going now. Bye."

"Wait, I didn't mean that…or actually I did, but hang on!" He stops me from turning and waves a hand at my now covered shirt. "You can't wear that; you'll give every man you see a heart attack."

I highly doubt this. But I figure he must be saying this to get me to change my mind. It's not _that_ slutty.

But it probably doesn't help that I'm not wearing a bra.

I'm _kidding_.

"I can wear it," I stick my chin up in the air determinedly, "watch me."

He snickers. "Believe me, I _will_."

Of course he will. Being perverted is what he does best. That and being annoying of course. And having washboard abs. Wonderfully sculpted washboard abs. And now my mind has drifted so far from the subject that I don't remember what I'm supposed to be thinking about.

"Rogue," Remy points to his door, "go in my room and take off that shirt right _now_."

I stare at him. Does he really think that is going to work?

I shrug. "Ok then. Let's do it."

He looks like someone just slapped him. He just stares at me for a few moments before saying excitedly, "_Really_?"

I laugh. "Nope! Bye!" And I sprint off away from him.

I almost feel like laughing evilly. I mean, that was pretty evil. But you can't get mad at me, remember when Remy ripped off his shirt and started doing push-ups in my room? Now _that_ was cruel. Though it had been nice to look at. But still—messing with Remy's head is fun—I should do it more often. I smirk at my own evilness. Oh yes—this is going to be a lot of fun—

AH! DAMN IT!

I just ran into the wall.

How you run into the walls of a house that you've been living in for years, I have no idea. I guess my stupidity has gone to my legs or something.

…

Ororo's sister, Vivian, lives in the next town over so it took us about half an hour to get there. All of us girls managed to fit into Jean's car and I couldn't help but notice that Kitty was brooding over something. Tabitha had asked her what was wrong but she hadn't answered. I guess she didn't want to talk about it.

I wondered if it had anything to do with this secret love of hers. I was curious as to who it was, and had thought more than once about going to ask Tabitha, but refrained from doing any such thing. Though Kitty couldn't keep her nose out of my business, I wasn't about to go sticking my butt in hers.

There's an image for you.

I hadn't noticed any strange activity from either Kurt or Piotr or even Kitty for that matter. But I haven't been watching them. But who knows, maybe it ain't Kurt or Piotr. Maybe it's Bobby…or even Remy.

That would not make me mad, so don't think it.

When we got to Vivian's house, she greeted us warmly and introduced us to a few women I don't recognize. They turn out being old friends and school mates of Ororo's and all want to talk to her at the same time.

The party is exactly as Ororo had promised. It's nice, and a little fancy. They serve these little sandwiches and tea. But the cake is in a weird shape. I stare at it for a whole minute, trying to figure out why anyone would get a cake in the shape of a microphone for a bachelorette party when it clicks.

I look away quickly, hoping no one noticed my staring. THAT was appalling. WHY would you want to eat that—oh that sounded gross…I mean put that in your mouth—I MEAN…Oh forget it.

In case you haven't caught on, the cake is in the shape of mans…you know whatsees.

Yes.

My attention is diverted from this (at least halfway) by the sight of Kitty over in the corner sitting alone. She's still looking upset over something. I know she doesn't want to talk about it, but I feel like I should comfort her somehow; I don't want to just leave her over here alone in the corner.

"Hey," I try to sound bright as I come over and sit next to her. "You ok?"

Kitty shrugs sadly. "I'm fine." She says this with absolutely no enthusiasm, which worries me a little. It's rare to see Kitty down, she's usually so upbeat.

"If you want to talk…" This is something that I have _never_ said to Kitty before. Because believe me, if you tell Kitty to talk, she will talk. And talk. And talk. And then talk some more. Then a little more. Then a little more. Then she will continue until you are ready to shoot yourself in the face. So this is probably why she turns and gives me a strange look.

"Really?" she asks in a small voice.

I nod. "Of course."

She bites her lip and looks away from me. "I'm…I'm sort of in a mess," she says finally after a few moments of silent. "I sort of…fell in love."

Whoa. She fell in love? That is news. Though now I do remember her trying to tell us that she was in love with someone when Ororo and Logan had announced their news. And no one had ever asked her about it again later. How odd.

I unconsciously lean forward a little. "You did?" I ask quietly so no one else could hear.

She nods and then looks at me again. "But…the trouble is…I like…I kind of fell in love with-"

I hold my breath—here it comes—

"With two different guys."

I can't help it—my jaw drops down to the floor as she says this. Whatever I had been expecting, it hadn't been _that_. I think she used the word 'mess' lightly. That was not a mess, that was a catastrophe. ESPECIALLY when it came to Kitty. And come ON, in love with two different men? How does that happen? Obviously you don't really love them if you're able to think about another person in the same way.

But hey, what do I know, right? I can't even say the word, who am I to judge?

But none of this makes the news any less…I hate the word with a passion, but scandalous. Leave it to Kitty to be scandalous.

"Who?" I ask weakly, pretty sure I already know the answer.

"Kurt and Piotr."

I'm shocked by the news, but I can't help but feel a little miffed that she's messing with my brother like that. In my opinion Kurt's a great guy, how could she pass him up? Or, not just pass him up, but flip flop from him to Piotr?

"Do…" I try to choose my words carefully. "Do they both know…about each other?"

"Oh yeah," she says flippantly, "They're always like, 'pick me! Pick me!' and let me tell you, it get's tiresome."

I'm gettin annoyed at this conversation. I'm almost to the point of letting her know exactly how I feel when the door bell rings. I'm closest, but Vivian rushes past me to open it.

It just turns out to be two delivery men holding a box between them. I have to wonder why they both came to the door to deliver one box. And I also find it weird that Ororo's sister lets them in and shuts the door.

They're both good looking—one of them has dark hair and a nice smile and pretty skin the color of mocha—the other one is total opposite but still good looking. He's blonde with blue eyes and very tall.

"Hi," the blonde one says, "we're here for Ororo Monroe, and we have a BIG package for her."

How odd.

He sets down the box, and tears it open. Um…Okay…what is he doing? Next to me, Kitty starts giggling. I'm about to ask her what is so funny when my attention is COMPLETELY diverted when the blonde man pulls a stereo out of the box. He hits a button—music fills the room—and he rips his pants off in one fluid motion.

Oh. My. God.

I try not to watch. I really do. Even when they both start doing splits. And when they both get up on Ororo (who, by the way, is looking very embarrassed). And when the older women start throwing money at them. And especially when the dark haired one starts cracking walnuts in-between his buttcheeks.

Ok, I had to watch that last one. Come on, that's just impressive.

Let's forget I said that.

Jean, Ororo, Amara, I, and even Kitty looked a little embarrassed by all of this. Tabitha and the older women were having a ball…Uh—I mean fun.

I'm sorry, when there are two strippers in the room shaking their butts like there's no tomorrow, it's hard to say anything and not think about it in a dirty sense. That's why I nearly choked on my tea when Kitty turned and asked me which one I thought looked better.

"I meant the men—not _that_!" Kitty said, laughing at my reaction.

Honestly I thought the darker one was better looking, but I didn't say that because the blonde was closer to us and was currently trying to get us to look his way. I forced myself to stare down at my hands, all the while feeling my face becoming very hot.

…

After the men were done dancing, and were properly clothed again, for some reason the women asked them to stay and eat some cake. And for some reason, they did. And for some reason beyond me I actually ate a piece. It was quite tasty. Uh…I mean, good…I mean I liked it. OH, I mean–erm…nevermind.

It was after Kitty excused herself and headed to the bathroom that the blonde stripper came over and sat next to me. I really wanted to get up and run off, but resisted the temptation. I had a strong suspicion that he had only come over because I had finally taken my jacket off, but of course I didn't ask him about it.

"Hi," he smiles at me, "my name is Eric. What's yours?"

The urge to run off was much stronger now and I unconsciously pulled my neck line up a little. "Rogue," I mumble, hoping he would get the hint that I didn't want to talk to him.

"Rogue? That's an interesting name," he remarks. "I like the streak in your hair, too."

"Yeah thanks," I say, trying not to leave any room for conversation. But he pushes anyway.

"So what do you do?"

"I go to high school," I tell him with a little smirk. Surely that will get him to back off.

He looks a little worried by this but still presses. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen," I grumble and look away from him to the rest of the room. Looks like I'm getting a few stares. I wish Jean would look my way; I could get her to come over here and save me.

"Oh, ok." I glance over to see him smile brightly. "So what else do you like to do?"

This guy is gettin annoying. Finally having enough, I say, "Sometimes I like to fight the bad guys that threaten mankind," he gives me a strange look as I continue, "Because I'm a _mutant_."

He looks shocked and draws back a little. I figure if I'm going to get rid of him, now would be the perfect time.

"That's right," I say, "I'm big, bag, powerful, scary mutant who—"

"That is so cool!" He interrupts enthusiastically.

Oh good grief.

"What can you do?" He says excitedly.

I can kill people, wanna see? He probably doesn't. Though I'm almost to the brink of showing him exactly what I can do when Kitty arrives, supposedly to regain her seat that the stripper is now sitting in. Speaking of which, now that I'm closer to him I can't help but notice that his head is the exact shape of a coconut. Seriously, it's perfectly round.

I've never been happier to see Kitty who now has her hands on her hips and is glaring at the stripper—I mean Coconut Head.

"Excuse me, you're in my seat," Kitty says rather rudely.

Coconut Head looks up at her, surprised and apologizes before standing up. Kitty sits back down, crosses her arms, and continues to give him a dirty look. I have trouble figuring out why though until a few moments later.

"So," he says to me, "you seem like a really cool person, can I get your number, or something?"

Ok, what is something supposed to be? I'm about to turn him down when Kitty speaks up next to me.

"No, she would _not_," she snaps rudely at him, "She has a boyfriend thank you very much!"

Really I should be used to this type of behavior from Kitty by now. She has really gone off the deep end with crazy antics since Remy has arrived. But still, like the dumbass I am, I'm shocked by this—and a little angry—and there's something else, some other feeling. What was that? Something she said about…me having a boyfriend. I can't think of the word to describe it…

Oh well.

Naturally I'm torn between saying, 'yes, I have a boyfriend' and screaming at Kitty to stop saying that. But if I said the former, I would undoubtedly be running the risk of Kitty running and informing Remy that I had been telling people that he was my boyfriend. But if I went with the latter, Coconut Head would see me as fair game.

Being an idiot, of course I have a secret and ridiculous third option. It's very stupid and a little gross.

Get ready.

I stand up abruptly and announce, "I'm gonna go back one out."

Kitty wrinkles her nose and stares at me. But to my complete shock, Coconut Head says, "You are so cool!"

And for some reason when he says this I can't help but think that that was the third time that he used the word cool. Apparently this guy doesn't know very many adjectives. But on the other hand, I use the word crap more than I should.

Not having any response to this, I walk out of that room as quickly as I can. I go into the bathroom, mostly just to hide and sit on the edge of the tub. This is when it occurs to me that I could always ask the stripper to be my date to the wedding, thus getting Remy back for trying to make me jealous.

But that would be defeating the purpose wouldn't it? I can't go out with anyone, I _physically_ can't and I need to prove that to Remy. It doesn't matter that he's got that power inhibitor, it will eventually wear off.

But…would it be worth it?

Why did I think that?

No, I shouldn't think things like that, it was bad, and it was unhealthy.

Oh, and why would I want to make Remy jealous back? I don't want to because…because…

I am _so_ miserable.

AH!

OK! I'm jealous. I'm a full fledged angry, out of my mind with jealousy, crazy lady. And I'm jealous because I like Remy and I like him a lot. And I like him because he's ridiculously hot and can make me laugh, and he takes care of me when I'm sick, and he can't handle his caffeine, and he just won't give up on me, and simply for the fact that he really seems to like me for me.

I think the cheese has officially slid off my cracker.

I've lost it.

That stupid device that Trask made will not last forever, but I've never been able to have an intimate relationship with anyone and I'll be damned if I'm going to let possibly the only chance that I've got to have one go. And believe you me, I will be DAMNED if I let him go anywhere with Lumberjack Lady.

Don't ask me why this all just came to me, I don't know.

But I do know that I should probably find a phone and give Remy a call.

…

**Next Chapter: Something gets broken, and *gasp* someone gets angry. Or…the other way around. **


	19. The Chapter With The Déjà Vu

Yes, finding a phone would be good right now. But first I have to get out of this bathroom. I stand up from my seat on the tub's edge, readjust my shirt in the mirror into a more lady-like manner, and swing the door open.

I immediately run into Kitty who is glaring at me. I'm so surprised by her sudden appearance that I jump back and gasp.

"AH! Kitty what the hell?" I snap rudely at her. I can feel my heart beating fast under the hand that flew to my chest in my shock.

Kitty completely ignores this and shoves me back into the bathroom, amid my many protests. She pulls the door closed and then crosses her arms over her chest to resume glaring at me. I'm about to ask what her problem is when she starts speaking.

"Why were you flirting with that stripper?" she asks me abruptly.

"I was not flirting with him!" I protest but she doesn't seem to hear me.

"I mean, Remy flirts with you, like, all the time and you don't flirt back!" she says, "And it's unfair of you to do that because he really likes you! He told me so!"

At the risk of sounding completely corny, I will admit that I felt my heart skip a beat at these words. "Really?" I ask her, but she doesn't answer. Instead she goes on with her rant.

"And he doesn't even want to go out with that woman—he's only doing it to make you jealous! He doesn't like her at all, he told me that she was really conceited and mean and NOT you!"

I gulp. "He said that?"

Kitty stops and stares at me. "Yes. The main reason that he doesn't want her is because she's not you. Those are his words, not mine."

I have to be very careful in anything that I say. I don't want to let my feelings known to Kitty, because she would most likely call Remy before I could. And also the rest of the world. And then she would start talking to me about 'ways to seduce your man' or some other nonsense like that and I can't take it! I can't!

"Right," I nod, "well, I'm gonna go and uh…Call Kurt."

Kitty gives me a strange look. "Why are you calling Kurt?

I shrug. "Oh, just because…he asked me to because of…um…a thing we were talking about-"

She interrupts me with a gasp. "He told you, didn't he?" she squeals.

"Uh…No…what are you-"

"He told you what we did in the-"

"AH!" I shriek in terror and cover my ears before I can hear anymore. I _can't_ take that. ANYTHING but that. I will sit and listen to anything she has to say about shoes, or clothes, or make-up, or celebrity gossip, or which guy's butt looks the cutest, but I will NOT under ANY circumstances listen to what she does with my brother.

"Pick Piotr!" I tell her harshly without uncovering my ears. "Pick him because it's less gross!"

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head at me. I figure (or more hope) that it's ok to uncover my ears now and bring my hands back down to my sides.

Kitty sighs. "Yeah, ok…Piotr does have a nice body though." My hands twitch at my sides, maybe I should cover my ears back up. Kitty giggled. "And I bet he has a bigger-"

I wish I had put my hands over my ears again. Piotr is not my brother so it's nowhere near as gross to hear, but he's still my team mate whom I have to see everyday. Though…hm…He does have a nice body…I wonder if he has washboard abs?

GRRR, see! This is why I shouldn't talk to Kitty.

"And on that note," I say dully before shoving past her to the door and walking back down the hall. I figure a phone must be in the kitchen, but before I can go that way, Amara comes over to me and announces that it's time to go.

Oh, ok. I guess I'll just talk to Remy when I get back home, then. But at this thought I'm struck with a sudden fear. What exactly am I supposed to say to him? I will admit that I hadn't really thought all that much about the details; I just knew that I didn't want him to go to the wedding with Lumberjack Lady and that maybe I should take her place.

Whoa.

My thoughts are getting freaky. I almost wonder if Tabitha has slipped me something again without my notice. Why did all this just pop into my head? Wasn't that…I don't know…weird? It made no sense. Though in retrospect, it does go well with the knowledge that I'm an idiot. If you think about it that way, it makes perfect sense.

Yes, people realize things all the time out of the blue. Like, for example, the other day I'm driving down the road with Jean to go get something to eat when she realized that she had forgotten her wallet and had to go back and get it.

And see for me, Remy is my wallet. I just realized that my wallet is going to date another wallet and who knows, maybe one day they'll have little baby wallets. The thought makes me want to put someone's head through a wall. Preferably a blonde haired wallet.

Obviously I need to stop being a bigger dumbass than I usually am and listen to what my heart is telling me. And my heart is telling me—OO! Is that a quarter?

I've followed Amara outside and see a little shining something on the driveway. After bending down to get it, I see that—yay!—it is a quarter and put it happily in my pocket.

Now, what was I thinking about?...I don't remember.

Oh well.

"Hey, is your battery dead?"

That was Tabitha who is speaking to the blonde stripper man better known to me as Coconut Head. The hood of his car is open and he's got his little round head stuck under there. He pulls out at hearing Tabitha.

"No, actually, I think it's my starter," he says. "I've been meaning to get it replaced."

And then, to my horror, and before anyone can stop her, Tabitha offers this strange man a ride. She is _smart_. Yes, very smart offering to give strange men whom we don't know from adam rides. I glance over at Ororo, hoping she would protest (though I know she wouldn't wanna be rude) who is looking none to happy about this. Amara looks a little frightened and Jean, like me, is looking at Ororo.

But the damage has already been done. Coconut Head has said his thanks, closed the hood of his car, and been ushered to our car by Tabitha.

The rest of us watch them go in silent horror.

"Please," Ororo says to us, sounding a little stressed, "don't tell Logan that we had the stripper in the car with us."

HA! You'd have to be a suicidal maniac to say that to Logan. And if you did, you'd better be smart enough to say it to him out of arm swinging distance.

"Oh," Ororo added as we all started towards the car, "On second thought, please don't say anything to him about any strippers whatsoever."

Good idea.

We all piled into the car, all of us save for Tabitha tried to sit as far away from Coconut Head as we could get. And Coconut Head, being a coconut head and all, gave us crappy directions to his house and Ororo ended up getting lost three times. It took us an hour to find it, and it took five minutes for him to climb out of the car and stop talking about the different kinds of cheeses that he liked to our blank faces.

I quickly got annoyed at this, and ended up shutting the door in his face as Ororo sped off, squealing Jean's tires in the process.

I'm_ not_ kidding.

The closer we got to home, the more nervous I became. I hate to say it, but I'm a teensy bit scared. During my whole inward 'I'm jealous and Lumberjack Lady has to pay' rant, I never thought once about what Remy would say about it. I shouldn't have any doubt that if I told him that I didn't want for him to go with Lumberjack Lady that he wouldn't be happy as a clam. But I do.

Who knows, maybe, _maybe_ while I was gone he went over to Lumberjack Lady's house? Maybe he's off with her right now making little Lumberjack babies. What if while I was gone he's made the decision to move on already? What if he moved on with a certain blonde haired Lumberjack?

And this is not the only thing on my mind.

It's stupid, I know, but…I'm so stupidly stubborn, I've spent a month pushing Remy away, telling him no, tellin myself that I don't care for him. And now that my brain has come out of its stupidity coma, I kind of…don't want to admit to Remy that he was right. I still feel that pull of my stubbornness telling me not to do it. I've admitted it to myself that I like Remy a LOT but part of me is still fighting it.

Oh my…OH MY GOD!

He did it! Remy—that rat! He did it!

HOW—HOW he managed this I will never know.

That—BUTTMUNCH purposely told me that he was going to date someone _just_ to make me jealous, then to put the icing on the cake, he told me _who _he was going to date. Is it possible that all along he knew I would come to the conclusions in my head that I've come to tonight?

Wait a second…is it possible that he set this whole thing up from the beginning? Did he know that Lumberjack Lady would be working in that restaurant that night that we had our date and plan this whole thing from there? Surely not…that is such an extravagant plan, even for Remy…

But…no…now that I think the words, 'extravagant plan' and 'Remy' the past comes rushing back to me. Kidnapping me, New Orleans, his kidnapped father, and he lied to get me to help him…

He DID set this whole thing up!

I'm going to hurt him.

…

I made an impressive show of storming into the mansion when I got home. Nevermind that everyone stared at me, I had a Cajun waiting to be decapitated. I can't _believe _that he's done this. Oh, wait, scratch that, I can't _believe_ I didn't figure all this out before tonight. It's just so painfully obvious it makes me feel ten times dumber than I do on a normal basis.

And something else I figured out on the way over here.

_Kurt_.

That sneaky son of biscuit muncher lied to me! Our conversation earlier today hit me between the eyes with striking clarity.

'_Remy gave me a twenty and told me to come and make up something crazy to get your reaction.' _I believe that part. Bits and pieces of it anyway. I'm thinking Remy gave him a twenty to come in my room and tell me that he had overheard Remy and Kitty's conversation _just_ so he could pretend to be caught and then sound sincere when he said, _'He's only going out with that woman to make you jealous, he doesn't actually like her.'_

Mhmm. Kurt has gone over to the dark side.

He's going to be hearing from me.

But first, Remy.

After stomping up the stairs and furiously stalking down the hall, I come to a stop at his door and start banging on it with my fist. Scott is walking past with a quizzical look at me but I don't much pay him attention and he walks on by.

The door swings open and Remy is standing there with a ridiculously goofy grin in place. I had initially planned to just start screaming at him, but his expression makes me falter for a few seconds. Why is he grinning like that? This is a little worrisome.

"Bonjour Chérie!" He leans over, takes hold of my elbow, and pulls me into his room.

"Remy!" I yell as he goes behind me to close the door. That's when I hear the lock click. Oh hell, why is he locking the door?

Taking a breath, I turn to start in with my tirade. And then, before I can do anything to stop him, he quickly wraps an arm around my waist, jerks me against him and hungrily catches my lips with his.

OH—NO—I can't let it—I can't let him make me forget…

Oooooh…

He starts in with his assault—and doesn't lighten up.

My hands curl into the collar of his leather coat, trying to pull my mind back to what I should be thinking about.

I shouldn't be thinking about how good this feels, I shouldn't be thinking about how somehow it feels different from last time, better than last time. I shouldn't be thinking about oddly thankful I was that men like Bolivar Trask existed in this world and I certainly shouldn't be thinking about how best to get even closer to him, feel more of him, smell more of him, _taste_ more of him.

I pull back, trying to get my mind together.

I needed to yell at him. Why? I have no idea why. I can't remember for the life of me what I came here for. Was it…something about coconuts? No, that wasn't it…

But as I pull away, he follows my movement—and since he's a good deal taller than I am, it's easy for him and our lips never separate. Instead, he attacks them with more vigor, and I let out a little whimper as every thought in my head quickly dissipates.

Oh, it wouldn't hurt to kiss him back.

At least this is what my body is telling me as I reach up and grab a handful of his hair in order to get him even closer.

I think my sudden enthusiasm makes up for my lack of experience. Remy lets out a little moan into my mouth and turns us so that I'm pressed into the wall. From there he starts attacking my neck and shoulder and my ear—oh holy _hell_ that feels good. I don't have to tell him twice to go back to the ear—he must somehow know that I liked that the most.

Oh he has nice hair. And nice lips. And nice arms. And he's _really _good at this.

In the back of my mind I hear an odd noise—something like a knocking sound, but I ignore it. Remy does too as he comes back up to my lips and we start all over again from there. This feels so—

_Knock, knock, knock_.

What is that? It's really annoying and—OH he's got my other ear now.

"What was that?" I manage to ask weakly, though I really don't care what it was and obviously neither does Remy.

"Nothing," he mumbles into my hair before nibbling on my earlobe.

Well. I wasn't going to argue with _that_.

And that's when the door busts open, letting out a tremendous crash and sending splinters of wood flying in every direction. I stare over Remy's shoulder in complete horror at the sight of Wolverine, all six claws out and ready, standing in the ruined doorway and looking absolutely livid.

He stares at us for a few seconds; the only sound in the room is the sad little noises the hinges swinging in the doorway are making.

Other than the fear, I'm getting a weird feeling about this…what is it? Oh yeah, déjà vu.

Even though I'm positive the whole mansion must have heard that crash, and even though I'm rigid with fear, REMY doesn't notice anything is going on.

The sad thing about this is: I'm serious. He's still at my neck, working on giving me one hell of a hickey.

"Remy," I say, alarmed, "REMY!"

"Hm?" He lifts his head up so that he can look at me, and upon seeing my expression, follows my gaze. He straightens when he see's Logan standing there and turns around. "Oh—Hey Wolvie!"

Oh _no_ he didn't.

Understandably, that's when Wolverine lost it.

He lets out one of those ferocious growls of his and throwing caution to the wind, he charges at Remy. Remy turns around quickly, grabs me out of harms way, and jerks us in the other direction. We go tumbling down—but Remy takes most of the force of it since he's on the bottom.

I start scrambling to get up—the last thing Logan needs to see is us tangled in each others limbs—just in time to see that Logan's claws have gone into the wall. This only buys us a few seconds and I know it. I forget trying to help Remy—he can take care of himself! I struggle to my feet and run for safety.

After I'm done tripping over the splintered remains of the door, I stumble out into the hall, Remy right behind me.

Scott is running up with Bobby at his side, and both of them are looking quite alarmed.

"What's wrong?" Scott asks just as Logan makes his appearance again in the doorway.

"CAJUN! YOU'RE DEAD!" He roars despite our audience.

Remy reaches into his pocket, first pulling out Trask's power inhibitor, which he throws over Logan's head and into his room a good distance away, and then pulls out three cards, all glowing a dull pink color.

"Whoa, hold up!" Scott runs forward to stand in between them.

I, however, move myself to safety next to Bobby. I should tell Scott to do the same. I should tell Logan to mind his own business. I should tell them not to fight, that it wasn't worth it. But…as twisted as this sounds…I kind of want to see what will happen.

"Um, Rogue," Bobby says quietly in my ear. "You're shirt is kind of…" his face is pink as he gives a pointed look at my chest.

Oh lord. My shirt has come down and is showing an obscene amount of cleavage. I quickly cover myself up with my jacket that's still (thankfully) in place with a grateful look at Bobby.

"Move, _kid_," Logan growls at Scott, "This has nothing to do with you."

I would have loved to have told Wolverine that it had nothing to do with _him_ either, but I'm not _that _stupid.

Scott refuses to move—instead he tells Logan to calm down. Logan does not take this all too well, not at ALL. No, instead of acting like the adult he is, Logan pushes past Scott and starts making wild swings for Remy's head.

Remy jumps backwards—how he does that I will never know—and throws a charged card to the floor in front of Logan.

Scott, Bobby, and I all instinctively run in the other direction, and Logan jumps over the card and toward Remy as it explodes. I hear Logan's claws hit something and then glass breaking, but I don't turn around in time to see what it was.

We stop and turn again, and thankfully the smoke starts to clear so we can watch the awesomeness that is their fist fight.

Uh—I mean—I'm not enjoying this at all.

Fighting is bad, kids. Very bad.

They're in the midst of heavy combat; both of them swinging their fists, kicking their legs, and oddly enough, they don't hit each other once—they're both equally good at dodging and blocking each other that neither one of them lands any really good hits.

Ororo, Hank, and the rest of the crew come up on the stairs behind us at this point.

"WHAT?" Ororo is staring at them in disbelief, "What _happened_?"

"Should we…" Jean asks slowly, "stop this?"

"Who broke the door?" Amara says, eyeing the shards of wood everywhere.

"Who broke my picture?" Professor X asks, sounding a little annoyed. I guess that explained the sound of breaking glass a moment ago.

Kurt, however, doesn't say anything. Instead, he looks at me, then at the broken door, then to Remy and Logan, and then back to me and quirks an eyebrow at me.

Crap.

"I can pull zem apart," Piotr offers, stepping forward.

"No, I wanna watch!" Tabitha complains.

Next to her, Kitty places her hands on her hips and stares at the two men fighting, "This is like, so childish! Why are they fighting?"

Everyone simultaneously turns to me in question. Oh crap. What am I supposed to say? 'Remy and I were going at it, Wolverine saw us, and lost it?' Yes, I can see this going over well. Kitty would do a happy dance, Jean, Scott, and Amara would be mad about losing money, Piotr (being so shy) would blush something awful, Professor X would probably faint, Ororo would ignore all of us as she's doing now in favor of watching Remy and Logan, and Kurt would keep giving me that look that he's giving me now.

An explosion that sounds a lot like one of Remy's charged cards brings everyone's attention over to that direction.

Logan has been blasted from the force of it into the wall. He hits hard and another picture that was hanging there comes falling onto his head.

I could have sworn I heard Professor X growl.

Logan swats at the picture frame, looking madder than ever, and stands up.

"Stop!" Ororo yells at him, but it didn't do a bit of good. Both men were so immersed in tearing each other apart that Ororo probably could have flashed them and have it go unnoticed.

Logan swung at Remy, Remy ducked and aimed an uppercut at Logan's jaw, which Logan dodged and turned with a swinging kick, which—you've got it—Remy blocked. Logan must have become bored or frustrated with this cycle because he had finally had enough and lurched his whole body forward and _actually_ connected with Remy.

All of us watching let out an "OH!" In unison as both men went tumbling down the stairs.

Oh my god. They've done it now, they've gone and killed themselves and over something so stupid. Ororo screams—we all rush forward and watch in horror…Well, some of us anyway. Tabitha's looking like she's having fun. And…it _is_ fun to watch…

Finally they land at the bottom of the stairs. Surely this fight is over now. Now that they're both dead.

But _unbelievably_, they both jump up and go right back to their fight as if nothing ever happened.

_Good god_ those men have some stamina, don't they?

"Hey Rogue," Kitty is giving me a strange look and everyone turns to see what she's looking at me for. "Is that a hickey?"

…

**Next Chapter: We find out something **_**very**_** interesting about Remy. VERY interesting indeed…**


	20. The Chapter Where Remy Speaks

…

Bonjour mon ami! This is Remy Lebeau here to let you know how things _really_ are. I'm gonna to let you know what I'm thinkin, what I'm feelin, and most importantly what I'm plannin behind Rogue's back. But first—I should start from the beginning. And I mean the real beginning.

After ol' bucket head and the other Acolytes split up, I went back to New Orleans. I can't say that I didn't like it per say—after all, who don't like goin home, non? But after having so much fun in Bayville, life back home became a little monotonous.

Now, I'm not sayin that being a thief is boring. Believe me; it's not boring, not in the least. In fact, if anyone ever tells you that being _bad_ is no fun, you give em a fat lip and tell em' that's from Remy Lebeau.

But back to the story.

After a few months, I realized something. It came to me that perhaps I was unhappy cause I was leading myself down a path that I couldn't turn back from. Or perhaps it was cause I wanted to be a good person, the kind of person that other people would talk about and say 'Hey, he's a good guy.'

HA, Ok, yeah, I ain't that deep, I didn't think all that much 'bout my decision, I just made it.

Yes, that is another lie. You need to learn to keep up with those, they'll come often; I just can't help it.

But all in all, my decision to come back to Bayville was simple. I needed a change. I was tired of being on the wrong side of things, and best of all, there was a beautiful woman living there that I very much wanted to see.

Oh Rogue…Rogue Rogue Rogue…But I'll get back to that in a minute.

When I got to Bayville I went in search of my old friend, John, who you might know better as Pyro. He was living in a dumpy little apartment in the city that was his pride and joy. I saw, after I had come inside after his excited greeting, that he had lovingly decorated the place with empty beer cans, trash, and just random bits of everythin' thrown everywhere.

It really was a nice place.

The armchair was turned sideways for some reason or the other, and with a tug, John turned it right side up for me before goin into the kitchen to get us a couple beers.

"What brings ya' back, mate?" he asked me after sitting on the sofa and propping his legs up on the table.

I took a long swig of my beer—now that I was here and so close to what I wanted to see most, I forgot all those other reasons that I came back. They were all washed away and bland in my mind compared to the belle femme that was at the forefront.

I just really wanted to see her, and I couldn't really tell you why, exactly. I just knew that I had to see her, speak to her, whisper sweet nothings in French in her ear and then have her yell at me, possibly (if I was lucky) smack me, and then turn that lovely shade of scarlet she does when I say somethin dirty to her.

Or she could turn red, ball her little hands into fists at her sides, and look like she was ready to explode. I'd be happy with that. That would make my day. She's so sexy when she's mad.

But it wasn't like I loved her. I just think she's smokin'.

However, I didn't say any of this to John.

"Remy got bored," I told him, "decided things just weren't all that excitin' in New Orleans. So…What are the X-men up to now?" I asked him, tryin' to sound like I didn't much care.

But somehow or the other, John saw right through me. A grin lit up his features and he shook his head at me and laughed. "It's the sheila, isn't it?"

"Non," I told him simply before taking another swig of my beer. Yes, a swig, not a sip. Men take swigs; it's just the manly thing to do. Femmes take sips. Just thought I'd point that out.

"Yeah, sure, I believe ya'." John rolled his eyes. "They're not really up to anything—just sittin on their duffs I guess."

I highly doubted that they were just sittin' around. I'd always thought they were erratically obsessed with all things mutant. Ha, ok, maybe erratic isn't the right word—but they were very…all up into everyone's business. Honestly, they took the fun out of everything. What fun is it to go start a fire when you know the X-men are coming to put it out in two seconds flat?

But I know that they do the right thing, I ain't sayin' they don't. I'm sayin' that sometimes…the right thing ain't always the _fun _thing to do. It's good for the soul to be _bad_ and wild every once in a while, and I think it would do the X-men a load of good to just let it all loose.

Ah, I shouldn't have put that thought in my head. The image of that bald man leader of theirs spinning around drunk in his wheelchair is too much. And now I'm sorry that it's in yours. No, wait…I'm not.

"Right," I nod as though I agree, "well…I was thinkin' of joining em'."

The beer that John had been sipping—I mean swigging—on flew from his mouth and all over his coffee table at my words. "WHAT? No! You can't!"

I'd fully expected this reaction so I just shrugged.

"Though," John said as if in afterthought, "They do have some damn fine sheilas on their team. Isn't there one that can create fire?"

I shrug again—the only 'sheila' I ever noticed was Rogue. I know there are others…a redhead and a younger girl and a woman with white hair. I'd always wondered at that. Why is her hair white? Did she dye it that way or was that REALLY her natural color?

Though it does look good.

"I'd like to meet her—get me her number, would ya'?" John says, goin' back to normal as if he hadn't spit his mouth full of beer all over the place.

"Yeah, sure," I say, but I don't intend on setting John loose on some poor unsuspectin' girl. "Why don't you come with me?" It's a long, long, long shot but I try it anyway. John was always good company to keep, plus he's funny as hell. Though on second thought, I doubt hell is all that funny.

He stared at me like I was an alien for a few moments before breaking into hysterical laughter. He had a good _long_ laugh at me. A VERY long laugh. So long, in fact, that I helped myself to his bathroom where I took a shower and put on a fresh change of clothes.

I didn't hear anything when I was in the bathroom, and supposed that he must have calmed down. He had. And when I came out and he saw me, he burst out laughin' all over again.

John let me stay there that night. I slept on his none too clean couch that reeked of beer and for some reason nachos. I woke up around five and then couldn't go back to sleep. John had left his door open and was snorin' real loud, and the smell of nachos was really gettin to me.

I gave up tryin' to sleep and got dressed. Hoping a brisk walk would tire me out a little, I went out into the bitter cold night—or morning—however you like to put it.

I didn't mean to go in the direction of the Xavier mansion, but that's what happened.

Yep, there's one of those ol' lies again.

I went straight for it, though I didn't know what I was expecting to see. Maybe I would find Rogue's window, wake her up, and scare her half to death. That might be fun, but there was always the possibility that I would knock on the wrong window and get Wolverine instead. But that might be fun too.

Fighting is fun. Don't ever let anyone tell you different.

But as I'm heading in that direction, I happen to see somethin very interesting. I happen to see the woman that's been on my mind for so long now, and she's walkin down the road in the middle of the night all alone like this is completely normal behavior.

I'm understandably curious at this sight, and can't help but watch her as she walks. It's just really weird to say the least. Who gets up at five in the morning and goes walkin? Besides health freaks that is.

I keep in the shadows, watchin her—I will admit that it's a little creepy—but my curiosity has been peaked.

I'm so intrigued by this, I watch her the whole time as she walks around the block and then back to the mansion. I feel certain that this must be a routinely thing and when I got up at the same time the next morning, I was proved right.

For three mornings in a row I observed this. Does this girl not sleep? Or is she just really that in to staying fit? I can't help but notice that she's never wearing her gloves on these walks. And not only that, but she looks happy, content.

On February fourteenth I decided to make my presence known. I knew her usual path so I just waited for when she would walk down that way and the fun could finally begin.

And boy did the fun begin. Our encounter was just what I'd been hoping for. I teased her, made her blush, and baited her to the brink of sanity and finally she snapped, calling me a swamp rat and nearly lost her footing she was so mad. The only thing missin' was that she didn't try to hit me, though I could always get her to do that later.

I waited for a few days before I went to the mansion, mostly because John had complained so loudly when I told him I was takin' off. I waited for a morning when Rogue was at school to go talk to baldy—I mean Professor Baldy—I mean what's his face.

He looked very surprised when he opened the door to see me standin' there, but he lemme in anyway and showed me to his study.

"So…Gambit, is it? What brings you to the institute?"

I don't know why but it bugs me that they call it the institute. It sounds like a place where crazy nutjobs are locked up in straight jackets and droolin' on themselves. I wish they'd just call it the mansion and let it be. Just sayin'.

"Well, um…I'm sorry mon ami, what's your name, again? Remy forgets."

He smiles warmly at me despite my bad memory. "I'm Charles Xavier. The students here refer to me as Professor or Professor X."

We talked for a good long while. Charles Xavier told me a lot about himself and in turn it made me feel comfortable tellin' him about my life. I soon came to realize that this man was possibly the most selfless man I'd ever had the pleasure of encountering.

You know, not that the lowliest of women isn't just as pleasing if you're catchin' my drift.

You're catchin' it, right?

I mean sex.

…I like sex.

But back to the topic.

After talkin' to Charles for a good three hours, I offered to let him have a look into my mind. It made me uncomfortable to do it, but I was smart enough to know that if I didn't do it, then gettin' in the X-men's and more importantly, Rogue's, good graces would be a lot harder than I really wanted.

It was the most peculiar feelin, having someone dig around in your thoughts. Almost like an itch in your brain, except you can't scratch an itch in your brain of course so it's just incredibly annoying. I can feel—see—even re-experience the memories he's lookin at.

A lot of it was Rogue. Fighting Rogue, working to save Rogue with Wolverine and Sabretooth in Tibet, kidnapping Rogue (my favorite), and an alarming amount of fantasies involving Rogue, including her dressed as Princess Leia, Rogue as the damsel in distress, Rogue completely naked and covered in playing cards.

I'll stop there.

Professor X did too, looking a little embarrassed as he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well, uh," he scratched a place behind his ear and I could've have sworn I saw him blush. "You seem…sincere. Welcome to the X-men."

I will admit that I found it a little odd (not to mention worrisome) that he didn't seem to care much that I was a little too interested in one of his students. Because of this, I felt safe to assume that Rogue must be eighteen now—and to me, that makes her fair game. Though really I wouldn't have cared if she were still seventeen, but her being an adult does make things more legal for me.

Not that legal is good or anything. Legal is no fun; _illegal_ is what you should always shoot for.

My dad taught me that.

After I left the mansion I walked back to John's apartment—I didn't think that my path would go right past Bayville high. Yes, that is a lie. But I ain't lyin when I say that I didn't know she would be outside and eatin' lunch. I just got lucky with that tid bit. I took the opportunity to make sure she saw me so that she could see my 'I've got an evil plan' grin in place before takin' my leave.

I noticed that the other two persons she was with looked shocked to see me. I guess Rogue hadn't told them that we had had a run in a few days before. Whoopsie daisy, guess I blew her secret.

Through my own scheming, Rogue ended up havin' to show me around the mansion. Of course, by the time I requested that she do this, I already pretty much knew the layout of the place, makin' sure to brand it into my mind where Rogue's bedroom was. She was gone the whole first day I was there, but I felt safe to assume that it was her room judging by the Metallica cds, the clothes in the closet, and my queen of hearts card that I gave her also in the closet.

Yes, I am incredibly nosy, I will not deny that. But when has being nice and keepin to yourself ever paid out for anyone? Take it from Remy; it's a lot more fun to be nosy. Try it sometime.

And moving on…

Rogue showed me around. We had a lovely time of quarreling—I would hardly have to say anything and her face would screw up and turn red, and then she would scream at me. My favorite part of the day was when we roughhoused on the bed. I got her to agree (if you looked at it _my way_) to let me make her food and she seemed to really hate it when I admired her ass, so I did it as often as I could.

At least she pretended to hate it. I ain't naïve enough—ok, I ain't naïve at all—to think that she didn't on some level like that I admired her body. Who doesn't like that? Specially when you've got a hot as hell Cajun a lookin' your way.

You'd like it. I'd make sure of it.

But on to other things.

It was my third day there when I was approached by Kitty Pryde.

It takes a lot to fool me, and Kitty Pryde did not. I could spot the scheming femme from a mile off. She was cookin' somethin' up that head of hers and it was obvious. I was instantly intrigued so I spoke to her. Scheming is fun.

"Hi…Remy," she said a bit timidly, "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

If anyone ever asks you that question, don't ever answer with a yes or no. You can get yourself in a hole doing that. Instead, be annoying and turn it into another question. "You were wondering?"

She nodded. "I've noticed that you have like, a major thing for Rogue. And I was wondering: how bad do you want her?"

I knew from her first question that I was going to like her. Kitty Pryde was strangely like me—but also not like me at all. I annoy people and enjoy it immensely, Kitty Pryde annoys people and has no idea she's doing it. But she's got spunk, and Remy likes that.

"Why?" I asked anyway, just to be safe. I didn't want this to be a ruse.

"Because." She says simply, giving me the same suspicious eye that I gave her.

"Why?"

"Because."

I wasn't going to give up; I could do this for hours. "Why?" I asked again.

"Because…I can help you get her."

I quirked an eyebrow at this, but really wasn't surprised that I had assumed right about her. "Why would you do that?"

"Well," she leaned against the wall and looked at me with a pair of wide, innocent eyes, "the rest of us have a pool going. And if you and Rogue like hook up or whatever I win a lot of money."

Wow. All of her friends were in on this. Ha. I knew from that moment that I was going to really like it in the Xavier mansion. Maybe they weren't all as stiff as I had believed when I was in the Acolytes.

The longer I stayed there I found out that this assumption was true. They were all nice people, albeit a little irritating (and not in the fun way) at times, but I fit in well enough with them.

Ok, so I'm gettin a little bored here so I'll skip ahead of time.

Kitty Pryde and I became good friends. She reminded me of a younger and much more innocent me at times with the way she meddled so much in Rogue's business. Though it wasn't as satisfying to see Rogue mad when it was someone else causing the anger, it was still pretty damn fun.

Kitty Pryde helped me with a lot of things. She told me things Rogue liked—leading to a breakfast I prepared for her—and she let me in on the 'secret' that Rogue had a big thing for motorcycles. This pleased me to no end because I had just bought myself a new bike when Kitty Pryde told me this.

She even confided to me one day that she was in love with two men. My old friend Piotr Rasputin and Rogue's brother Kurt Wagner.

Hm.

But when I asked her why she didn't just choose one, she told me to mind my own business, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and stomped away.

I also noticed one day when I was innocently mindin my own business…Ok, I'm lyin, I purposefully spied on them. And by them I mean Ororo and Wolvie talkin. And by talkin I mean eatin' each other's faces off as if they forgot that oxygen is a necessity.

But now on to the good stuff.

The reason that Rogue so very much interested me was…lost to me. I didn't understand WHY I couldn't keep her out of my head, out of my dreams, out of my dirtiest of fantasies and most of all why I loved it when she would call me names like, 'baboon' or 'butthead' or 'doofus' or my own personal favorite, 'rubber donkey'.

I don't know what a rubber donkey is, but if anyone can tell me, I would appreciate that.

But I didn't know why I enjoyed all of these things; I just knew that I had to have her. Because surely when I had her, _just once _would my need disappear. I was positive of this, so I tried harder. And for some reason, nothin got the job done. Nothin made her want me in return and nothin would crack the wall she put up, not even just a little.

And instead of turnin me off of my pursuit, this only drove me further. It puzzled me, not only because I couldn't figure why I liked her so much, but because she was unlike any other girl I had ever met. I guess my good looks had always made it too easy for me or somethin, because I expected her to be in my bed within a week and of course this didn't happen.

Now, I know that her powers would prevent such things from happenin—at least that's what she thought. There are things like body stockings and such and we could always keep our clothes on (though I would have loathed doing that).

I had thought of all of these, believe me. And if it weren't for that one thing, if it weren't for her powers, by that point, I would have been tempted to kidnap her again and make love to her until she was begging me never to take her back.

Or something like that.

Trust Remy, it would have been a lot nicer (not to mention the fun) than it sounds.

But back to what I'm sayin'.

The more she resisted me, the more I wanted her. Without realizing it, I had grown startlingly fond of her presence. I couldn't go a day without seeing her, without annoyin her or without making her blush at least twice.

And then—somethin happened. Somethin very scary. And when I say that somethin is scary, you should know that it's down right terrifying. At least it terrified me. I'd never experienced it before—hell; I'd never experienced anything remotely like it before.

It was the day that Bolivar Trask's men invaded the mansion. It was a normal day up until then. We were eating dinner, I was staring at Rogue to annoy her, and then ol' Wolvie walked in.

The man looked great. He looked like he'd been in a bad fight and I almost envied him for it.

Fighting is _fun_. Seriously, you should try it. Just go up to the next person who says hi to you and kick em' in the stomach for no reason. They'll undoubtedly get mad, and then you'll be able to see how fun fighting really is. Good luck.

Wolvie said some gibber gabber but after he put a sack down on the table all I heard was:

"That's several devices, pills, and handcuffs…they all work to suppress mutant powers."

I soared in happiness—as stupid as that sounds. But I was very happy. Maybe now that I had a way to be able to touch Rogue, she would give in? Surely this was the reason that she was holdin out on me this whole time.

And if she did say ok, I'm borrowing those handcuffs from Wolvie.

Ahem…

We got up to get ready for the battle we knew was comin. And that's when the scary thing happened. Yes, then.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. Nothing in my mind told me that it didn't make sense or that I didn't know Rogue that much. Nothing brought it on, really. We were headin upstairs and Rogue sent me a look that was slightly less angry or annoyed than the looks that I had been receiving as of late, and then…

It hit me.

I was in love with Rogue.

I loved her and I didn't know why or when it had happened, but I knew that it had happened. I didn't doubt that it was true, not even for a second, but I did doubt that my mind was working correctly. Maybe my brain was just thinkin it and my heart didn't really feel it?

No. I felt it, and I thought it, and I knew it, and it scared the livin _hell_ out of me.

I sat and thought it over for as long as I could. I would have liked to have longer but we were expectin company of the unwanted kind and I couldn't.

So I told myself this. If Rogue hated me, then I would leave her alone. I would get out of here—maybe go back to New Orleans or maybe I would just go blow somethin up for the fun of it. If she hated me, then I couldn't stand to keep doing what I'd been doing. Not because I didn't want to disrespect her feelings or whatever, but because I couldn't stand it if she hated me when I loved her.

So I asked her. I asked her straight out if she hated me and do you know what she said?

You know.

She said no. And I'd never been happier.

It was then that I knew that I would not stop. No matter what she said or did after that, I was not gonna stop goin after her because whether she admits it or not, she's mine. She's my Rogue and my chérie and no one can tell me different.

So while I had the opportunity to touch her, I did.

I kissed her, and she _kissed me back. _That was not an action of a woman who thinks nothin of you. I knew she had to have felt somethin for me, or else she just thought I was hot. That was a strong possibility. I mean, you have seen me, right?

I used this tool to my advantage.

One afternoon, I kept tryin to get her to keep the roses I had bought for her. I knew that she wouldn't, but I knew that eventually she would bang on my door and scream at me about it.

I waited, and sure enough she had done the thing I had expected her to.

So I did the only logical thing that _any_ man would do.

I stripped off my clothes off, splashed myself with water and wrapped a towel around my lower half.

Yes, I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower. And I looked damn fine if I do say so myself.

The ladies always love the muscles. Everyone had different tastes though—I never knew which part they liked the most, but I'd gotten compliments on just about all of them. My biceps, my abs, and my chest were what got the most attention. But when my Rogue saw them all, I wasn't sure what she liked the most.

But I knew she liked what she saw.

But backtrack some. Go back to Bolivar Trask's factory.

After my little episode with my chérie, I leapt into the building. It was a good fight until S.H.I.E.L.D. came in and took over. They told us not to touch anything, but…the urge was too great. It's like there was big, shiny, red button that said 'DON'T PUSH' on it in big, bold letters and I HAD to push it.

So I reached over and grabbed the first thing I saw. There was a few papers, some schematics next to it and I grabbed those too.

"What are you doing?" Scotty boy asked me when he saw this.

I looked over at him and shrugged, not really minding that he caught me. "A power inhibitor."

"Why would you need that?" he asked.

"For Rogue."

He stared at me for a long moment before nodding. "Hm…Ok. I'd get more than one though; you never know when they're going to burn out."

I did just that, loading my pockets full of them and I suspected that Scotty boy did the same.

With the help of Kitty Pryde, I managed to scheme my way into gettin a date with my Rogue. And even though I liked Kitty Pryde and I appreciated her help, I'd do anything to make my Rogue happy, and I knew that there was some considerable friction between her and Kitty Pryde, Scotty Boy, and Jeany Jeans.

So that date consisted of a shopping trip to Wal-mart, a few pranks and a LOT of laughing.

I liked seeing her laugh—almost as much as I liked seein her mad.

After that, I knew I got somewhere with her. Obviously she didn't want to admit it to herself and it drove me insane. But sooner or later, I knew I could get to her, I KNEW I could get her to change her mind and I KNEW that she knew that she liked Remy.

And also that she thought that I was sexy. Or that my 'washboard abs' were sexy. This is what I read in her journal anyway.

I told you I was nosy.

I was just flippin through the pages—and all I saw all through it was 'washboard abs', written multiple times and at some points, for seemingly no reason at all. She didn't exactly name who the washboard abs belonged to, but I had a pretty good idea that it was me.

And just to make sure, I ripped my shirt off and sure enough—she couldn't look away from little Remy one, two, three, four, five, and six.

Don't judge me for naming my abs! I have nice abs and I'll name them what I please.

Now I'll skip ahead in the story again because you're probably thinkin me insane.

And if you didn't, I would think_ you_ insane.

Somehow, I guess through my amazin Cajun charm, I got another date with my Rogue and this time, I didn't have to fight so much for it. She actually agreed to go out with me. Again, this was not consistent with the things she was tellin me about not being interested, and it only fueled me further.

I spent the whole day at John's apartment to hide so she couldn't change her mind on me.

John glared at me the whole time, still mad at me for joinin the X-men.

"Mon ami, why don't you join, too?" I suggested again. "It ain't so bad. You were right, the femmes are fine."

John had continued to glare up until that last comment. "Bring me pictures and we'll talk."

I just lifted an eyebrow at this.

Later that evening, the date was interrupted by my chère getting sick, so I took her home and cared for her. I didn't mind it in the least. In fact, I thought it was kind of fun to spend more time with her—even though she was passed out a lot of the time. But when she woke up…

You can't tell anyone.

We bonded, and we bonded over something VERY scary.

We bonded over…Soap operas. Or just one soap opera, really. But still we bonded.

Then when she got better, I got sick, and wouldn't you know it, my Rogue came and took care of me in turn.

I thought, surely this is it. Surely she has realized that she does like me in return (I did, after all, give her a big speech about how since when both liked one another it was stupid to not do anything about it). But I felt quite certain that if I prodded _one more time_ she would cave.

And then when the time came, she didn't cave.

I won't lie. My chérie hurt me. Remy put himself out there—I've NEVER done that—and she refused me anyway. What I could possibly do to make her mine was completely lost to me at that point. I loved her—I know she liked me—her skin was not a problem, all of her friends knew about us, and she could not give me a justifiable reason as to why she wouldn't give me a chance.

I was almost broken.

_Almost_.

But as she was walkin out my door, the most lovely and devious plan came to my mind. Not that I've_ ever_ worked so hard for a femme before, but I knew one thing that _never_ failed. I knew it was somethin that had bothered my Rogue before. It affects all of us as some point or the other, whether we like to admit it or not.

Jealousy.

And I knew a freakishly tall blonde woman whom I secretly referred to as Gargantuan Girl that I knew my Rogue didn't like. I will admit that Gargantuan Girl was not bad to look at. But as cheesy as it sounds, in my eyes she paled in comparison to my Rogue.

So I went to the restaurant I knew she worked at, found Gargantuan Girl, worked my Cajun charms, and got myself a date. The look on my Rogue's face was splendidly jealous and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Then I paid her brother to work his stuff. All I had to do after that was wait.

It did bring my mood down a bit when I found out she was going to a bachelorette party. And for some reason or the other, she didn't expect to see any strippers. Guess she was in for a surprise.

I could have dealt with that. It would have been ok with me. I won't say it didn't bother me at all, but it wasn't somethin I couldn't get over. But what really bothered me was when my Rogue came down the hallway dressed in a low cut red shirt. I know I've seen this shirt on her before, and then it was all I could to keep my hands off of her.

Rogue is _hot_.

And the sad thing is, I don't think she knows it. Though I'm not sure why, more than once have I expressed my more physical desires to her.

But yeah, I think she should dress this way more often. No, I think she shouldn't dress at all. That sounds much better. She should try it just for one day—she doesn't know, she may like it. She could go a day not dressed and staying in my bedroom with me. Then I would make sure she would enjoy herself.

Yes, my Rogue is too sexy for her clothes.

But back to the story—

My Rogue came down the hall—I had to wonder why she was walkin down this way, and the only thing I could come to was that she purposely wanted me to see her. But this thought was at the back of my mind. My other thoughts were boiling in—what was that?

Oh. It was jealousy. Jealousy that a big, brawny male stripper with his nakedness all up in the open would be seeing MY chère is that shirt—or lack thereof.

I tried to get her to take it off, to come in my room, I even told her that she would kill someone wearing that but she had that stubborn look in her eyes and I knew I wasn't gonna win. Then, just to be mean I guess, she messed with my head. All I heard her say was 'let's do it.' and I was ready to go.

But she was fakin'. This does not make Remy happy. I almost contemplated scoopin her up and lockin her in my room so she couldn't go out like that. But, as she was walkin' away, I witnessed her run smack into the wall. That was kind of strange.

I went back into my room, a little saddened by her departure, but not altogether let-down. The plan with Gargantuan Girl was goin to work out, I was sure of it. I was so sure of it, that I went to work.

To work on what, you ask?

Remy has been a bad boy.

The power inhibitor that I stole—I mean Gambit stole. If it's somethin that could upset someone, Gambit did it. Remy does things too, but Gambit is very naughty. But goin back to the power inhibitor. Gambit stole it from Trask's factory, along with the schematics of it.

And I found out a LOT about this little device.

It lasts for five years, its power stretches fifteen feet in all directions, there is no on and off switch, it automatically works as soon as it senses a mutant nearby, and the best part: it can be tweaked.

The schematics are very confusing about all of this information, however. I've spent weeks trying to figure out exactly how it works, exactly what the directions say, and how to make this inhibitor last longer.

Tonight I went to work on it. The directions were ridiculous the way they explained things. Everytime I try to read them I can feel myself gettin a headache. The words are the kind of words you only hear rocket scientists use, and they're used in such a way that even when you do have a dictionary on hand, they still make no sense the way they've got it phrased.

But after workin on it nearly every night since that day in Trask's factory, I've almost figured it out.

I've gotten shocked by this thing a total of six times and cut my finger once, but I don't doubt that it won't be worth it for my amour.

I_ think_ I understand the directions correctly as I set to work. They say that if tweaked just right then this thing can last up to twenty years. WHY they didn't do this in the factory, I'll never understand. I guess they knew a rat like me would find it and they wanted to make the experience harder for me.

But if I don't get it all worked out, I stuffed two pockets full of these things when I was at the factory. After looking them and the schematics over, however, I learned that a lot of them would only work for fifteen minutes. I got three decent ones out of this pile; each of them would work for a year.

So if I don't get twenty three years, then at least I'll get eight.

I worked on this inhibitor for hours. The sun had set a while ago, my neck ached from bendin over for so long, but I pressed on.

Just when I had been shocked for the third time, I was ready to quit. In frustration, I dropped in on my desk—maybe a little too vigorously—and it bounced, hit the wall, and then flew into my trashcan.

Sighing, I bent to get it—and I noticed that it was glowing much _much_ brighter than it had before. After staring at it for a long moment, I turned it over and saw that the power bar was over the maximum level.

I had done it.

I had done it, and I had no idea how I had done it.

But I did do it. If she would have me, I could be with Rogue for over twenty years.

That's when someone started poundin on my door.

I flung the schematics and everything else on my desk into my closet before I happily sprinted to the door.

Excitement bubbled in me when it turned out to be my Rogue, and bubbled even more when I noticed she looked mad. I didn't give her any explanation—I just pulled her into my room, locked the door, and laid one on her.

She stiffened—but I didn't care. At least she didn't pull away. Oh wait, there she goes.

Hmph, not on my watch.

I followed her movements and didn't let her go, not for the tinniest of seconds. And then—I KNEW IT. She started kissin me back and it was all I could do not to lose complete control of myself. She grabbed my hair—I liked that.

I know she can't have kissed anyone other than me before, but she certainly doesn't kiss like it. Her skin smells like a mixture between vanilla and honeysuckles, she tastes like cake, she feels like a _woman_. A woman I love even more than being bad or fighting or being nosy or well…sex.

Now _that_ is love.

And I CAN tell you why I love her, but I can't tell you why I fell in love with her. I can't explain to you why it's _her_, why I know deep down that it's always going to be her and no bad temper, poison skin or gargantuan women can smother it.

All I know was that before her there wasn't color. Everything was…black and white and bland. She put the color in my world and she didn't even have to try.

And it still scares me to death.

All too soon my almost high-like euphoria ends. I'm just workin on giving my chère a nice hickey when she says my name. I look up to see whats the matter and find her lookin very frightened.

Turning, I see ol' Wolvie standin in the broken remains of my door and looking ready to murder.

I can't help it. I have to taunt him somehow.

Don't look at me, Gambit did it.

Wolvie snaps and the dolt nearly impaled both me and Rogue on those pretty claws of his.

Now I'm goin to skip ahead in the story again. I'm going to skip ahead to my time—I am, at this moment fightin Wolvie. He's a good fighter, I would have thought that I was better, but it seems right about now that we're even in that department.

We've been fightin for at least an hour now. I'm gettin tired, and I'm feelin banged up, but that does nothin to take away from the _fun_. I haven't had a fight like this in a while.

For the first twenty minutes of our fight Snow Storm yelled at us, our other team mates watched. Eventually they had become bored—at least this was what I was barely able to observe before Wolvie barely missed my throat with his pretty claws—and some of them had sat down to watch, a few went to bed.

I quickly became annoyed when I realized that Wolvie was actually tryin to _kill me_ and I wasn't really tryin to kill him.

So I tried to kill him.

Three charged cards I flung into his chest. They all exploded and Wolvie was flung backwards out the door and onto the front lawn.

Ok, it's over. That has got to be it. Everyone starts runnin down the stairs as I lean against the wall and try to catch my breath. But then before anyone can get any closer, Wolvie stands up again. Oh yeah, he heals.

Damn.

We go on for another HOUR.

The only people still watching us (now on the front lawn) are Beasty Boy, Snow Storm, Professor Baldy, Scotty Boy, and my Rogue.

Oh yeah, guess I should mention that I think up nicknames for people to remember them. Except for Kitty Pryde. I just call her Kitty Pryde because I like her name as the whole. That, and once I called her kitty cat and she pinched me and I don't very much like gettin pinched.

My Rogue is shivering. If I'd had a moment I would have given her my coat, but seein as how Wolvie is tryin to cut my head off I better not stop defending myself. Instead, I see out of the corner of my eye Scotty Boy hand her _his_ coat.

That's annoying.

After I've almost run out of cards to throw at him, he has so very nearly gutted me a dozen times, and I'm sure it must be midnight by now, does he finally stop charging at me.

"Will you just die already?" he snaps angrily.

"Non, Wolvie, don't stop now, Gambit's just gettin' warmed up." I say tauntingly as I twirl my staff around.

He snarls at the mention of his nickname but makes no move to come after me.

"FINE." To my astonishment, he retracts his claws. "I want to talk to you."

"Talk?" I ask, not sure I heard right. I suspect that by talk he means to kill me, so I don't make a move towards him.

"Yes," he glances around at our shivering audience. "Not here."

"Where are you going?" Snow Storm asks, somewhat bossily.

"Yeah, where are we goin?" I ask with a note of excitement in my voice.

"For a beer," Wolvie tells Ororo before kissing her swiftly on the cheek and headin for the garage.

Shrugging, I send my Rogue a wink and follow him.

Wolvie turned out to be a wild driver. I liked it. Trust Remy, driving wild is _fun_. Next time you're in a car, put your foot down and start swinging the steerin wheel everywhere, you'll see. But if you lose control and fly into a ditch don't blame me.

He was good on his word and we ended up at dingy bar that was full of other splendidly drunk men and women. They also had karaoke and a pool table. But I highly doubt I was going to be using either one of those tonight.

After we had sat down at the bar and ordered our beers, Wolvie turns to me.

"Don't use her, don't kidnap her, don't ask her to do anything she's uncomfortable with, and don't ever hurt her or so help me God I will cut your head clean off." He pulls a cigar from his pocket and lights it. "Now drink your damn beer."

I do just that while thinkin what a nice guy Wolvie is.

"And stop calling me Wolvie!" he snaps as if he heard my thoughts.

I grin. "Sure thing Wolvie!"

He looks about ready to smash his beer bottle over my head before he suddenly looks confused. "Wait…how were you able to touch Rogue?"

"Uh—" I start before we're interrupted.

"Mate! What r' ya doin' here?"

John slides into the empty stool in-between Wolvie and me with a big grin in place.

"I'm spendin' time with-" I started.

"Don't say Wolvie." Wolvie growled at me.

"Ah, well…You're an X-man but I can buy ya' a drink." He slapped Wolvie and I on the back and motioned for the bartender. This is so out of character for John that I have a strong suspicion that he's already been drinking.

"We already have drinks," I showed him my beer.

I didn't expect it to stop him, and I was right. "Alright then: shots."

Wolvie glared at him but when he mentioned shots I noticed that he looked considerably less grumpy.

It's right about there where the night turns into a blur. I didn't get _that_ drunk, but John and Wolvie got absolutely plastered. It took John about four shots to get the job done, but I lost count with Wolvie. It was long after I lost count that we were laughin for no reason at all, and before I knew it, we were up on the small platform together, gettin ready to sing.

Karaoke baby.

Our arms slung around each others shoulders, and our random bursts of laughter must have made us look insane, but it was the best drunkenly slurred chorus of Freebird I ever heard.

…

**Next Chapter: Rogue gets her dress for the wedding…and something else happens. But I can't tell you that. **


	21. The Chapter With The Can

**A/N: This is my new favorite chapter :) And just to let you know, this is going back to Rogue's pov. No more Remy chapters. That was annoying as all get out. I'm sorry, I know everyone loved that chapter but...sheesh...I can't do that anymore...**

...

Alright, I'm awake. Let the hilarity ensue.

After turning off my alarm, I stretch widely across my bed and then roll out and onto my feet, happily making my way towards the bathroom. I like the morning time—the singing birds and the smell of the early morning dew and the approaching sunshine all make me happy inside.

Especially when it's five in the morning and I've started my morning routines again. Getting my mornings alone back is the only solution that I could think of for my current problem. Because mornings alone equal inner peace which equals a clearer mind.

Yes.

And I need a clear mind. Day before yesterday I made out with Remy. And day before yesterday I _really_ liked him. And here I am today, knowing that I _still_ like him. This inner peace/clear mind combo really works for me. I'm not sure why I stopped doing this.

But yesterday morning I had woken up, not quite refreshed since I hadn't gotten so much sleep, but still happy to be alone for a while, and it all came to me so easily. It was like my stupidity dam was broken and out came all these thoughts.

Thoughts about how stupid I was for pushing Remy away when I liked him, how stupid I was for not pouncing when I had the opportunity to be able to touch, and how stupid it was for me to try to bury my own feelings inside of myself.

Though don't get me wrong, I still hate it that Remy was right, and I am going to have admit that to him. And I still have this urge to get up and run away from him, though I'm not sure why.

I forced myself to go find him yesterday to talk to him about this. But when I found him, he was passed out on his bed, for some reason that guy Pyro was on the floor, and I found out through the grapevine that they both had hangovers.

Looking at Logan, I couldn't tell if he had drank anything at all, so I wasn't sure if he had joined them in drinking at whatever bar they went to. And even if he had, I doubted that he had drank so much to become drunk like they had…Did he?

Probably not. I just can't picture that.

But anyway, Remy was asleep most of yesterday, and when he wasn't, he apparently felt too bad to come out of his room. His door was still blown apart, but Piotr had started to work on fixing it the last time I saw him.

So here I am today, my mind clear and honest, and I know what I have to do today.

Today Ororo and Logan are getting married. This is the day that Remy is supposedly going to 'date' Lumberjack Lady. So to prevent this, I have to…I can't believe I'm going to say this…But today I have to let him know I how I feel.

Don't worry, it's not Armageddon, I'm just being honest.

Wait…Maybe it _is_ Armageddon…

But today I have to tell him how I feel about him, how I feel about Lumberjack Lady, and…how I want…I want to…I can say it. I can.

Today I have to tell him that I want to be with him.

Whew.

This is not something I look forward to, but also something that I can't wait for. I'm so nervous just thinking about it that I've chewed my lip raw thinking it over. What am I supposed to say? How do I phrase my words just right? Is there any way that I can say it so that he won't give me that arrogant 'I won' smirk?

He's going to give me that smirk. And if he does I swear—I am going to slap him so hard…

Anyway.

I shower and dress at a slow pace, and think that maybe I'll go for a walk around the block like I used to. That might be fun. But I'm surprised when I shut my hair dryer off and hear voices in my room. I can distinctly hear Kitty and Jean arguing over something.

But I don't mind, it's morning!

Well, except that day before yesterday when they had discovered my hickey I had been a bit embarrassed. Though I tried to convince everyone that it was just a bruise—I highly doubt that any of them had bought that excuse. They had all given me skeptical looks when I stuttered that I had fallen when Logan had come into the room and hurt my neck. They still looked very unbelieving, but we became so engrossed in the fight between Remy and Logan that everyone forgot about my hickey.

I walk out of the bathroom and greet them.

"Good morning!" I say cheerfully.

They both turn and look at me with confused expressions on their faces. I guess it is weird to see me so happy. Now that I think about it, I don't know if they've ever seen me like this before. They've never seen me this early before. And I might be happy for another reason…It MIGHT be because of Remy, but I don't bother myself to think about it because it's morning!

"Uh…Morning," Kitty says uncertainly, looking a little nervous by my greeting. "Why are you so cheery?"

I grin. "It's morning!"

They both continue to stare at me.

Jean leans closer to study my face. "Are you _stoned_?"

I take a minute to think about whether I should be insulted by this or not. Oh I'm sure she's just messing around because it's morning! Morning makes people act weird, in case you hadn't noticed how weird Kitty and Jean are acting. Finally, I just slap her on the arm playfully. "Oh, you!"

They continue to stare at me worriedly as I skip over to make my bed.

I don't know what their problem is. But I'm not going to bother with it because it's—wait, you know what it is.

…Morning!

"UM…Ok," Jean shakes her head as if she's trying to get rid of a thought, "well, Kitty and I brought your dress in for you."

"I hate it!" Kitty crosses her arms and pouts at me and Jean. "You should have let me pick it!"

Jean rolls her eyes and pulls a dress out of a bag for me to see. I don't know why Kitty hated it, I suppose because it was modest. It wasn't any big deal, but it was pretty. It looked like it would go just past my knees, it had long sleeves, a v-neck and it was one of those wrap around dresses. Oh, and it's red.

It seems like there is something about that color I should be remembering…What is it?

Hm…I can't remember…

Anyway, I really like this dress. So much, in fact, that I don't mind that I'm going to have to put it on later.

"I love it Jean, thank you," I smile at her. Jean is awesome for picking such an awesome dress on such an awesome morning—Oh CRAP it's red. Remy likes red. Remy will want to rip the dress off of me if it's red. Remy has washboard abs. Remy—Wait, why did I just think that?

Oh my God…If Remy and I do get together…Washboard abs, here I come.

Oh yeah.

"Rogue, are you blushing?" Jean asks.

"What!" I say, a bit startled that my thoughts went so far. "No…Uh…Why do hate it, Kitty?"

"She was trying to get that backless dress you saw," Jean answered for her as Kitty continued to glare.

Thank God I had asked Jean to get the dress. Not only because I knew that she wouldn't pick anything backless or frontless, but because she wasn't a pushover and wouldn't let Kitty have any say. Plus, I really like the dress that she picked out.

Plus, I like washboard abs.

Ah! I knew I shouldn't have thought of them! I've opened up a can of washboard abs and they're flying everywhere! …Now there's an image for you. That's definitely an image I'll be thinking about…I really have problems.

"You're blushing again," Jean points out as she and Kitty continue to stare at me.

I bend down to resume making my bed, letting my hair fall down over my face as I go. "It's hot in here. What are you two doing up so early, anyway?"

Kitty seems to forget that she was looking ready to murder two seconds ago. At my words, her face lights up. "It's wedding day! Everyone is up!"

After she says this, I notice how excited they both look. I guess they were so anxious about it, they couldn't sleep? Sheesh…It wasn't their wedding. But I guess some people do find this type of thing fun.

"Everyone?" How strange. Everyone is up at the crack of dawn?

Kitty nods enthusiastically. "Of course, silly, it's the wedding day! Everyone is busy."

Now I remember Ororo mentioned something yesterday about how there would be a bunch of strange people in the house today. I guess this must be decorators, cooks, musicians and people to set all of this up. I suppose I missed the part where she said they would be here at dawn.

This can't be good. If everyone else is awake and running around already, then I won't have my morning alone. This would be catastrophic to my newly non-stupid mind. This would build the damn again that would lock the stupidity up in there forever.

The only solution that I can think of to maybe help with this is going for that walk I was thinking of. After I say this to Kitty and Jean, they both give me a strange look.

"The sun is hardly up yet—and it's freezing," Kitty wrinkled her nose as she stared out of the window.

"Yeah, the news said there was a forty percent chance of snow today," Jean added as she too, went over to the window.

I just shrugged and told them I was going anyway. I didn't mind the cold; just as long as I got my morning alone, I was good. And if I don't get this morning, out of ALL mornings, all hell will break loose. And when I say hell I mean my stupidity will come back in waves, I'll probably be mad for no reason, the whole thing with Remy will go down the drain, and the washboard abs will be lonely if I'm not there to lick whip cream off of them.

So you see, it is _imperative_ that I get my morning to myself.

…

AH!

Ok, going out was a bad idea. Why, you ask? Well, there are a number of reasons why. First off, it's freezing outside—not the unendurable kind, I could have stood that—but the wind blew so harshly and unrelenting the whole the time, if felt as if I didn't have any clothes on at all.

I thought that the sun would surely help me warm, just a little, but the sky is clouded over with fluffy, grey clouds and the sun is no where to be seen.

Then—someone had wet the sidewalk the night before and it had iced over. My poor, unsuspecting self walked right over it, slipped, and banged my elbow. Then, as if this wasn't enough, I _might_ have been able to salvage the morning, if the next thing hadn't happened.

A giant, stupid bird flew overhead—and took a big, juicy crap on my arm—ON MY ARM! That stupid thing CRAPPED ON ME! I hate hunting—I just think its wrong—but if I'd had a gun right then, that stupid thing would have been in birdie heaven. Or...Maybe not. I could never hurt an animal. Even though it CRAPPED ON ME!

I thought: at least it's on my coat and not on my bare arm. I thought this before I took my coat off and was forced to battle the cold and the hard winds in nothing but my thin, long sleeved shirt.

So by the time I get back to the house an hour later I am understandably NOT happy.

I don't count them, but there's got to be at least thirty to forty strange people here setting things up. Pretty white chairs are being set out on the lawn and I realize with a sudden dread that they want to have the wedding outside. WHY WHY WHY they want to do this, I will never know. Outside weddings are pretty, but it's so cold out here we're going to freeze to death before the ceremony is even halfway through. I doubt Logan had anything to do with it, so I assume that this is all Ororo's doing.

She's trying to kill us.

People were wrapping white Christmas lights around the bushes and trees everywhere—that is going to look pretty later. Three guys are struggling to roll out a white cloth on the ground that I assume is supposed to make an isle for Ororo to walk down. There's a lone man setting up an arch towards where all the chairs are facing where Logan and Ororo will get married.

I carefully ease my way through everyone, trying not to bother them or mess anything up. I've just about made it through when I knock into a man who is trying to get through the front door at the same time I am.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" My apology dies on my lips as I notice who it is that I ran into.

Oh. My. God.

It's Coconut Head.

I stare at him in bewilderment "Coco—I mean," I say quickly, "Eric? What are you doin' here?"

He recognizes me and smiles. "Hey Rogue! Tabitha invited me to the wedding."

This I don't doubt. It sounds just like something reckless (inviting the stripper that we were supposed to be keeping a secret) that Tabitha would do. But it's so early and this was weird. "But…It's six thirty in the morning." I say to him.

He shrugs. "Yeah, Tabby told me that I could come at any time and I was already awake, so I came now." He grins stupidly at me and I can't help but want to smack him. That might sound harsh, but I couldn't help but think what would have happened if no one had been awake yet and this ignoramus had come to the door.

"But…" I say again, "its six thirty in the morning."

"I know." he says confusedly, "I have a watch." He holds out arm for me to see his watch. I continue to stare at his face, wondering at what age he had hit his head so hard.

"But…It's six—Oh nevermind—" I stop talking when I notice how confused he looks.

I run inside, ditching him there on the doorstep. People were setting up in here too. Hey, is that a stage? I don't have time to inspect it before Tabitha comes hopping down the stairs to greet Coconut Head.

Wait, Tabitha hopping down the stairs? It's six thirty in the morning! WHY is everyone up? OH, right, the wedding is at noon. But this is still weird.

I run up the stairs, leaving Tabby and Coconut Head to do—whatever they were going to do. I caught a glimpse of Coconut Head waving goodbye to me and I ran faster.

…

When I get back to my room, Remy is on my bed, naked.

Ok, half naked.

OK…He isn't naked at all.

Except for that he is buck naked.

Yes, I'm _kidding_.

A fully dressed Remy is lying on my bed, wrinkling the bedspread that I had made earlier. He's reading something—I wasn't sure what at first, not until I noticed my backpack open and my notebook out on the bed.

"What are you doing?" I snap at him after I slam the door closed behind me.

It is six thirty in the morning. Six THIRTY. Did no one decide to sleep at all last night?

"Readin your history notes," Remy responds without looking over from the paper. "At least I'm tryin, you have terrible handwriting."

What! I do not! I mean, it ain't the best handwriting in the world, but it ain't _terrible. _What's terrible is that he has no sense of self control and goes through my things whenever he wants. I could have VERY private stuff in that backpack for all he knows, and he's just—just—just…stupid.

"Remy…" I say warningly and finally he looks over at me.

"Hi." He says and grins.

Oh no. He needs to stop grinning like that. Now that my mind is not so clouded over with stupidity, I can clearly feel my knees going a little weak, my palms sweating, and my heart thumping a little faster as he grins like that.

But I don't like him.

AH! No! The stupidity is coming back!

I _do_ like him.

A lot.

Go away stupidity.

Remy tosses my notebook down and hops up. I just stand there as he comes over to me, too excited, nervous, and afraid of what I'm feeling to run. I don't know what he's going to do when he gets here but I can't imagine that it would make my hands shake like they're trying to do now.

Or maybe it would.

Finally in front of me, he takes my left hand, pulls off my glove, and kisses my palm. Ok, that's not so bad. That actually feels nice. This does nothing to calm my nerves though, because now I'm nervous in a whole other way—a way that I can't really explain because I've never felt it before.

He kisses me again, this time on my wrist, and again I feel something I've never felt before. Except for once when he kissed me at Trask's factory, and once when he kissed me the other day, that is. Little trickles of pleasure emanate from where he kissed me, making me go hot and cold and tingly all at the same time. I'm not sure what to make of this, either, but I enjoy it all the same.

"Someone said you tried to come and talk to me yesterday," he says leisurely as he turns my hand over and kisses the back of it.

I can't talk—my tongue feels very thick all of a sudden so I just nod at him instead.

"What did want to talk about?" As he rolls my sleeve up and starts kissing his way up my arm, I completely forget what I wanted to talk to him about yesterday. Something about a…coconut? No, but déjà vu with that one…

Something about…Oh yeah, kisses. He kissed me and we should talk about it—he kissed me like he's kissing me right now. Only then it was fast and hungry, now it's slow and relaxed, and somehow I think this is better. Though everytime he kisses me they seem to get better.

I swallow, hard. I have to get a hold of myself. If this was going to happen everytime Remy touched me then the other parts of my life were going be majorly neglected. On the other hand, if he does keep going like this, I doubt I'll care all that much.

"I think we need to talk." I respond, finally finding my voice.

He nods in agreement and pulls back from my arm. Hmph.

"You're right, we do," he takes my hand and leads me over to the bed.

"No!" I jump away from him. I ain't fallin for that bit. No way am I getting too near that bed with him. "You sit there!" I point to the chair that he had brought into my room when I was sick. I have yet to bring put it back where it belonged, and now I'm grateful for it.

He looks at me amusedly but goes over and gets the chair anyway. He drops it next to the bed and sits down. Ok, this is much more comfortable. As long as he's not touching me, I can have a clear mind about this.

Just as I pass him to go sit on my bed, he reaches out and grabs me by the wrist. "No," he says, "You sit here!" And he pulls me onto his lap before I can stop him. In the back of my mind, I realize that what he just said was a mirror of what I had said five seconds before. But of course, this is the back of my mind.

And now we're at the forefront. My first fear is that someone will walk in on us. This is a strong possibility since the universe hates me and everyone here is nosy.

Then, my stupidest fear is that the chair will break. Though, that might be funny. And my biggest fear—if you could call it a fear—is the realization that I'm on Remy's lap and trying to have a serious conversation when I KNEW I shouldn't be touching him.

And then with a horrifying realization, I feel something pressing into my thigh.

"Remy!" I burst angrily and start trying to get up.

But he holds tight. "What? Just sit with me."

"You are disgusting, you know that?" I snap angrily as I try to wriggle away from—that.

"What?" He looks confused, "How is this disgusting?"

"Let go of me you rubber—" I stop short and narrow my eyes at him when I see his lips twitching. "DON'T laugh."

"I won't—tell me why…" He seems to realize something, "OH…Rogue, that's my cell phone." Keeping one arm in a tight grip around me, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. The pressure on my thigh is gone and I know he's telling the truth.

He laughs as I feel my face burn red. My urge to run is much greater now. I had actually wanted to spend time with Remy for two seconds before I made an idiot out of myself. Again.

"Ok, moving on," He says and tosses his phone to my bed. "What did you want to talk about?"

This is something that I like about Remy. He doesn't hold things over my head or talk again about my dumb moments after they've happened. Like when we kissed for the first time—he didn't go around and tell anyone and he didn't even talk about it with me. He didn't point out that a few moments before that kiss happened I was thinking of pushing him off of the roof and arguing with him. Instead he laid back and made me feel—dare I say it—comfortable…Kind of.

One of his arms is holding me to him right now, but he's using his free hand to play with my hair. This is very distracting.

"Can't I talk over there?" I motion toward the bed.

"Why can't we talk here?"

"Because it's…weird."

He shrugs and continues to wrap my hair around his fingers. "It's not weird for me."

Of course it's not weird for him, he's not the one sitting on my lap…Though he'd probably like that just the same. But I'm still afraid that someone is going to walk in, and obviously Remy isn't going to let go of me any time soon so I better get it over with.

I try to look serious—as serious as one can look when you're being held like a five year old. "Fine. We need to talk about um…Um…" That fear of what to say is coming back. I can't believe I have to say this. "Us." For some reason, I've always hated when I hear people say that.

Remy nods. "Ok. What about us?"

I clear my throat awkwardly. "Erm…You know…this and that…"

"You mean how we kissed the other day? And how you're sittin on my lap right now? And how I'm gonna kiss you again?"

I just barely dodge him as I turn my head. He catches my ear instead, and for me, this is no better than my mouth. But he pulls back and pouts at me.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Because," I say crossly, "we have to talk."

He shrugs and pulls me a little closer. "Ok, talk." And he starts nuzzling my neck.

Oh brother. I knew I shouldn't have stayed on his lap. I knew I shouldn't have let him touch me in the first place—his touch is way too demanding of all of my senses for me to be able to think clearly. And most importantly, I shouldn't have let him known that this is ok.

"Remy," I complain and start trying to wiggle away again. "Will you please stop that for two seconds?"

He pulls back and looks at me. "Ok. Go on."

I sigh, grateful that he's stopped acting like a child. "Ok, well—"

"Two seconds are up!" He says happily before diving for my neck again.

This feels good and all but…I feel that familiar itch of irritation scratching at me. "Stop it! Will you—oh."

He's got my ear—I have to think—I have to keep a clear head. I pull away and slap him across the face.

I'm serious. Though I didn't slap him all that hard. It didn't even hurt my hand, but it certainly got his attention. I expected him to either be hurt, angry, sad, or just to keep completely ignoring me and keep going, but he did none of these things.

Instead, he lifts his gaze to mine and looks almost…disappointed. "That's all you've got?"

Ok, I heard wrong. "What?" I ask quickly.

"Hit me harder baby—show me—OW!"

This time I slap him harder—hurting my hand in the process. I scramble out of his lap quickly and glare, seething at him. "YOU—are so _infuriating_! Why can't you go a day without being a pervert?" I ball my hands into fists at I yell at him. "Why can't you go a day without being annoying? You are undoubtedly the most infuriating person in the WORLD! And yes, I realize that I haven't met every person, but I'm one hundred percent sure that you are the worst of the worst!"

He says nothing through this. Instead he watches me with a satisfied little smirk on his face—and something that closely resembles admiration. But maybe I'm wrong. Why would he admire me? I've just slapped the man and insulted him, yet he still gives me that look.

"STOP SMIRKING!" I yell at him and I can tell he's fighting hard not laugh.

"Oh, now my anger is amusing to YOU?" I shout angrily, getting madder when I see his amusement. "Well let me tell you mister—you're—you're—you're the stupidest most irritating person and I won't have anything to do with you again!" He stands up and I automatically back up a few paces. "NO! Don't try that thing with your lips again! OK, cause it won't work, no matter how hard you try!"

He lifts an eyebrow at this. "Is that a challenge?"

"NO!" I yell hysterically, knowing that if that were a challenge, I would definitely lose it. "Stay away from me Remy LeBeau—I mean it! If you touch me I'll—I'll do something horrible to you while you're sleeping!"

He smirks at me again. "Something horribly dirty I hope."

This is the comment that makes me completely snap. So many curses and insults come to me, I don't know which to hurl at him first. I would really like to smack him again, but seeing as how he likes that, and I don't want to get within his reach, I'm not taking any chances. Instead, I gape in anger at him, taking a few angry, shallow breaths to steady myself.

"YOU SON OF-"

"You are _so_ sexy," he says appreciatively, freely roving his eyes up and down my form.

This stops me short of my curse, but does nothing to ease my anger. If anything, it makes me madder.

"Shut-up!"

He smiles, just a little. "Didn't you want to talk about somethin?"

Oh, he is too much. I could never be with him, I know that now. I would rip my hair out just trying to cope with things like _this_.

"I told you to shut-up." I tell him coldly but he doesn't seem a bit bothered by it. He actually still looks slightly amused. The pompous ass.

"Ok, I'll talk then." He shrugs and then reaches out and takes my hand. I move to pull it away but he keeps it in a death grip which infuriates me all the more. "I promise I won't ever ask you to hit me…Ok, that's a lie, I enjoy it too much to give it up now. I promise I won't purposely try to annoy you…Ok, that's a lie too. You're too sexy when you get mad for me to stop doing that."

I lift an eyebrow at him. This speech better get better, and mighty quick before I karate chop his head off.

He sets his eyes, big and wide on mine. "I have a lot of flaws—too many to count. I know that, I know you know that. But I'm so very fond you, chérie, that I can promise that if you give me a chance, I will make it all well worth your trouble."

I wish he wouldn't look at me or say things like that right after he's made me so mad. I'm getting dizzy. Not only that, but my heart is hurting my chest it's beating so hard and my stomach is doing this weird fluttery thing.

Who knows what that means.

Seeing my changing expression, he draws me close and puts an arm around my waist. "I'll be good to you, I promise."

My hands are shaking again. I don't know why, either. Maybe because it's cold in here. Yes, that must be it.

I look up at him slowly, wishing I was just as brave about this as I was about yelling at him. This is what I've wanted to do since the other day. I'd hardly thought of anything else. And now that the time has come, I still feel my stubbornness pulling me one way, my desire to hit him another way, and another feeling altogether pulling my heart towards him.

"Ok." I say in a small voice that I hardly recognize as my own.

He grins then—a big happy grin that takes over his features and shows in his eyes. "Really?" He asks excitedly.

I nod—still not brave enough to say much out loud. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm happy all of a sudden too—everything that I was angry about just a moment ago feels so far away now, almost as if it had never happened. ALMOST as if…

Hm.

"So, you'll be my date to the wedding?" Remy asks, almost bouncing on his feet he looks so excited.

I nod. "Yeah, sure."

"Then I guess I should go and pick up my suit. I wasn't gonna wear it if I didn't have you to look good for."

He seriously needs to stop making my heart melt with these little comments. Soon it's going to be a big puddle of nothing if he keeps this up. Then again, with the way he goes from annoying to sweet I'm sure my heart will keep solidifying and then melting over and over again.

Not that I'd mind.

He leans down and I hold my breath in anticipation, knowing he's going to kiss me.

But instead, he kisses the tip of my nose and says, "See you later chère," before skipping out of my room.

…

**Next Chapter: Evan comes back, Coconut Head leers, Remy is James Bond, and SOMEONE gets married. **


	22. The Chapter With Rogue's Corndog

I am in so much trouble. My heart hurts from beating so hard and so fast in the short time period that I was speaking to Remy. I really need to stop that. I need to gain control of my feelings just like I've always done. That's right, the healthiest thing for anyone to do for themselves is to take all of your feelings and bottle them up tight and never let anyone know how you feel.

Yes, stupidity is back.

Of course, stupidity never left me. It's always there, hanging over my head like a cloud and snowing the dumbness onto me.

Speaking of snow, it's starting snowing little flurries outside. It's nine o'clock now and Ororo is freaking out. I've never seen Ororo freak out so this is quite frightening. I could tell that she had already been nervous—who wouldn't be on your wedding day—but when she saw the snow outside, she nearly had a stroke.

"What do I do now?" She wails miserably as she stares out of the window and down at the lawn where they're moving to cover everything up.

"Um…Why don't you hold it off?" I ask her slowly, wondering why she hadn't thought of this before.

She chews her lip nervously and then looks out of the window again. "I don't know if I can…I—I'm already a little shaky, and I don't want to concentrate on it throughout the whole ceremony."

Oh. That did make sense. I want to smack myself for not thinking of this myself. I look around at the other girls for help, but they have none to offer. We had all come in to Ororo's room to help her get ready. Kitty, Amara, Jean, myself, and Ororo's sister, Vivian didn't look like they had anything else to put in so I reach over and pat Ororo's shoulder.

"Well…It'll be ok," I search my head for something to say. Hidden in the cloud of dumb there's got to be a lone smart thought in there somewhere. "Look, people have weddings in the snow all the time, you can do it to!"

She turns to me, a touch of hope on her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes!" I say automatically, though I've never known anyone to have a wedding in the snow. I look back the others for help, and seeing my pleading look, they all start forward.

"Oh yes, I hear that all the time!" Vivian offers to Ororo.

"We can make it work, I'm sure of it," Jean smiles warmly at her.

"I can keep everyone warm," Amara offers with a cheeky grin.

"It'll be like, the most spectacular wedding, EVER!" Kitty gushes.

"Plus," I say to her, "Why does it matter what the weather's like? You're gonna marry the man that you…" I falter at this, forgetting that I can't say it. I can't even make myself say it now, when I'm not thinking about where it ties in with me. "You're going to marry Logan," I finish quickly, hoping no one would really pay all that much attention my falter.

Ororo turns shining eyes filled with tears on us. "Yes, I suppose that's all that matters. Thank you, Rogue." She reaches over and hugs me tight.

After that, there weren't any more problems. Word was sent down to the people working outside to keep the chairs covered until someone sat in them. Ororo still looked nervous, but happy as we all clamored around her to help her get ready.

Really we didn't do too much to help. I suppose that maybe she asked us all to come in here for support, so I didn't leave. Jean fixed her hair while Vivian applied her makeup and Amara, Kitty, and I just stood off to the side, offering compliments and such.

Oh wait, I did do one thing. I held the pins for Jean while she fixed Ororo's hair. My job undoubtedly was the most important of all. Mhmm.

Though this is fun, my thoughts were mostly on one thing the whole time. Or more like one person. You don't have to ask who it is, because you already know.

Everytime I think of him I get this weird, swoopy feeling in my stomach and my fingers tingle. He's not even here and just thinking about him makes me nervous. Nervous because I don't know what to expect later on and even more nervous because thinking about him makes me nervous and I know that can't be good.

I've fought so hard to suppress all of these feelings for so long, it's hard to just drop the barrier so quickly. Though, I realize with a start that Remy hasn't changed much since he first got here. He's the same sneaky, irritating, nosy, albeit somewhat likeable, funny Cajun with the washboard abs that I've always known.

I'm the one who's changed. I'm the one who said no to him time and time again. I've changed for seemingly no reason at all and I'm having trouble understanding it.

And the whole thing is just weird. One minute we're fighting, and I'm ready to seriously hurt him, and the next he's holding my hand and promising he'll be good to me and making my heart melt. How he does this, I don't know. He did the same thing just the other day. I stormed into his room, ready to yell myself hoarse at him and then he was on me, kissing me, making me forget my own name and giving Logan a reason to murder.

Then again, maybe this is not his doing at all. I've obviously got some serious mood swinging issues, and it's not even the time of month when I should be having those kinds of issues.

Or, maybe it's because I like him so much, because even after I've gotten so mad at him I scream, I still want him and honestly…I kind of like him even more than I did when I started yelling at him in the first place. Don't ask me why.

And don't think that I'm falling in…that.

I'm not. I just like Remy. Just because he makes me feel things that no one else has ever made me feel, does not mean I'm in…that with him. You know what? I'm going to replace _that_ word with the word…corndog.

So let me explain it to you.

I am not in corndog. If I was in corndog, that would be very bad, very bad indeed. See, if I was in corndog, then wouldn't it all end being a big mess of broken hearts in the end? Remember, that power inhibitor that is making all of this possible will only last for five years. So it would be very foolish for me to fall in corndog if I was going to end up having to put my wall back up again.

I like Remy, a lot, and I'm not sayin' that I won't give it a shot anyway. This is my only shot to be able to touch anyone, and if I had to choose someone to touch…Yes, it would be Remy. I would choose him over anyone else because…because he makes my stomach do that swoopy thing and no one else is able to do that.

So I do like Remy immensely, but I am not in corndog.

Stop thinkin' I'm in corndog!

…

Eleven o'clock came much faster than I had anticipated. With it came a flood of guests, some people whom I didn't recognize, some of them I recognized as the crazy ladies from the bachelorette party, and the best part of all, Evan came!

It had been so long since I'd talked to him—even when he had been here I'd been too busy. So when I saw him coming into the foyer, I raced down to meet him. I'd have hugged him but…I hope this doesn't sound mean, but I didn't want to get stabbed by all of the spikes protruding from his body. He seemed to have realized this too, because he just gave me a playful smack on the arm.

"Hey Rogue, you're lookin' good!"

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I do look good. The dress Jean had gotten me fit perfectly and was comfortable—I really like it. Wow…I think that is the first non negative thing I've ever said about myself.

Hm.

"Thanks, you're looking very sexy yourself today, you grow some new armor?" I think that was the most off the wall thing I've ever said. Grow more armor? I'm ridiculous.

He gives me a strange look before he bursts out laughing, drawing attention from a few of the other guests in the hall. Not that he hadn't already been drawing attention. Evan's new look drew a lot of stares, but I guess everyone here must be mutant friendly, that including the help.

"You're crazy!" He says as he continues to laugh.

I think that's the most accurate thing anyone has ever said about me.

"So how goes it?" I ask when he's finally stopped chortling.

"Oh, you know, same old same old. Living in the sewer, hiding from humans, trying not die, all that nonsense."

He says this lightly but I can tell all of this is wearing on him. I don't know who the leader down there is, but I know Evan has a lot on his shoulders. He's too young for it to be, but I can clearly see that his face already has worry lines—he looks a lot older than eighteen. I wish they would all just come live here, I wish he didn't have to fight to eat everyday. But everytime any of us show any concern he takes it as if we're saying he's not doing it right.

I know the last time Professor X had given him some money, he had had to practically force it on him. Since then everyone tries to avoid the subject with Evan—it turned into him being so stubbornly independent that no one wanted to get into it with him.

So I don't really know what to say to him when he brings it up. I just nod. I'd like to say that I was sorry, offer help, offer money, but I knew it would be met with the 'I can do it myself' speech.

He changes the subject then, which I am so very grateful for.

"What about you?" he asks.

Now there's something I can go on about for a while. Where to start? "It's good…things have been kind of insane lately…" Was it insane? Or was it just my own little world that was insane?

He nods. "I noticed that last time I was here. That Cajun dude still coming on to you every five seconds?"

Well, I guess that little part of my life wasn't as hidden from everyone as I had hoped it was. I nod to Evan and he laughs again.

"Kitty said it was only a matter of time before you two 'hooked up' as she put it." He rolls his eyes. "She asked me if I wanted to be part of some bet."

_Kitty_.

Good grief, I'd completely forgotten about that stupid bet. And I'd also forgotten that Kitty needed to be smacked upside the head.

"What did you say?" I ask Evan worriedly. Surely he didn't join in too. Though if he did and he won, that would give him some much needed cash.

His lips twitch upwards. "I told her to shut-up and leave you alone and that it wasn't any of her business."

Ha! I snort loudly at this. I so wish I had been there to see Kitty's face when he had said that to her. That would make all of my pain worth it.

"She hasn't spoken to me since," Evan says as though in afterthought.

Tabitha decides to trot over at that moment, closely followed by Coconut Head who is waving enthusiastically to me.

"Who's that guy?" Evan asks me quietly as he gives him a strange look. "He's got a really round head…"

I snort loudly again as Tabitha and Coconut Head stop in front of us. Tabitha greets Evan and introduces him to Coconut Head who is staring at Evan now in disbelief. Oh crud. I forgot that he was a human at a mutant's wedding. Though, it's Coconut Head, he seems to like the idea of mutants.

"Whoa! DUDE!" He exclaims as he takes in Evan's form. "You look so cool!"

There's that 'cool' word again. Evan is looking kind of weirded out but I see a little flicker of amusement cross his face. I bet it's been a long time since anyone told him that he looks cool in his mutated body, if ever. I have a feeling that maybe Coconut Head and Evan would make good friends if Coconut Head's head wasn't so full of…coconuts.

Hahaha.

A movement to my right catches my eye and I look that way.

Oh my sweet chicken noodle soup.

Remy is coming over towards us and _hot daddy_ does he look sexy.

…I just used the phrase hot daddy. Let's forget it now.

Wipe it from your mind.

Forget it. Now. Forget it.

ARE YOU FORGETTING?

Remy said he wanted to look good for me, and he was telling the truth. He has gone way beyond my expectations. He's wearing a tuxedo—kind of the like the ones that James Bond always wears, but Remy puts James Bond to shame. Remy makes the _tux_ look hot. Remy even makes the bowtie look hot. Everything else around him suddenly looks watered down and plain to me as he struts over to where we're standing.

Tabitha says something to me—but I don't hear it. All I hear is my heart fluttering around like an annoying little canary inside of my chest.

My gloves are back on, but I wish now that they weren't because Remy takes one my hands kisses my knuckles. All I can do is gulp audibly and hope my heart is able to take all of this. Evan says something, but I don't hear that either. Remy says something back to him, but I'm just standing there, blinking stupidly up at his face as if my brain has also melted.

I wouldn't doubt it.

I have to breathe—I have to bring myself back to the present. This is all so corny. All he did was walk in the room for crap's sake!

Tabitha is looking at the two us and rolling her eyes. "Jeez, will you two get a room already? You can cut the sexual tension in here with a knife."

I'm brought back to the present harshly as if she had smacked me with a sack of potatoes. She might as well have—I feel light headed enough for that to be true. But my face burns at her words and Remy chuckles. Evan just lifts an eyebrow at this and Coconut Head is looking confused.

"How do you cut tension with a knife?" He says stupidly and all eyes turn to him.

"It's a metaphor," Tabitha says as though she's speaking to a little kid, "you can't actually cut tension. I'm just saying that Remy and Rogue here need to hop on aboard the hump train and ride it."

"Oh my God, Tabitha!" Evan stares at her in disbelief.

Somehow my face burns redder than it had a few moments ago. Tabitha is so gross and vulgar I'm about ready to smack her too. Evan is shaking his head, Tabitha is laughing, Remy is clearing his throat loudly, and Coconut Head is grinning from ear to ear and somehow leering at me at the same time.

I unconsciously shrink away from him and closer to Remy who puts an arm around my waist. The last thing I need is a man with a coconut for a head coming after me.

"Right, well, I think I'm gonna to head out now—or head over there," Remy tightens his grip on my waist, "Wanna come with me, Rogue?"

I nod and we quickly rush away from the others, heading for safety. That has got to be one of the most embarrassing conversations I've ever had with anyone. Not to mention one of the oddest. I don't know what happened to Coconut Head to make him such a coconut head but whatever it was I pity him for it.

Remy leads me over to a less crowded part of the room. It looks to me like the foyer is going to be used for dancing and conversing or whatever the hell you do at weddings after the ceremony. There's a platform over in the corner and it looks like someone has already set some instruments up over there. There's more flowers and tulle all over the place than I've ever seen in my life. Red roses seem to be the thing which brings back the memory of the roses I refused to accept from Remy.

Why did I do that again?

"You look more and more beautiful everytime I see you ma chère fille," Remy purrs at me and moves to snuggle closer.

I quickly pull away, sending a worried glance around us. "Don't do that, not in public. And stop being such a corn monster."

He lifts an eyebrow at me as his lips start to twitch. "What's a corn monster?"

"It's when you keep saying all that corny stuff! Now cut it out." I tell him bossily. He better not start laughing at me again.

"It's not corny, it's the truth," he says with that wide-eyed look he keeps giving me. "You need to start gettin used to hearin that you're beautiful because I refuse to stop tellin you so."

I scowl at him though I can't help but feel a bit elated about this.

"And why can't I hug you here in public?" he asks.

"Because," I cast my eyes around again to make sure no one is listening. "I don't want...whatever this is to be public yet."

"Why not?"

"Because I just don't. Let me see how it feels first."

He grins then—not his one hundred watt grin or the lopsided one he always reserves just for me, but that mischievous one that makes his eyes brighter and makes him look quite…evil. "I can show you how it feels," he says in low, deep voice laced with so many suggestions it's not even funny. How does he do that? How does he put every dirty thought in his mind into a few words so that I'm able to understand his meaning?

"Remy," I say in a low voice very NOT laced with any suggestions. Other than the suggestion that he's in danger of getting smacked, that is. "I'm serious. I just need to get used to it—I need to get comfortable—get that look off of your face you perv—and I don't think I can do that if everyone is flyin around us like a bunch of nosy bats."

The image of everyone with their heads on bat's bodies is not a picture that I should have put in my head.

Remy sighs. "Ok, if that is what you wish of Remy, then it will be done. I like you so much."

"Corn monster!" I accuse him just as Pyro approaches us.

WAIT, Pyro approaching us?

Remy turns and greets him while I'm left to stand here and wonder what the hell is going on. Since when is Pyro invited to the wedding? And since when does he just walk into the X-mansion like there was never any bad blood between us? And since when is it ok to wear our normal everyday clothes to a wedding? Because that's what he's doing.

"Put her there, sheila," he says to me with a wink. His hand is outstretched, and I shake it uncertainly. What the crap is a sheila?

Pyro says something—but it goes unnoticed by me when I see a flash of blonde to my right. At first I thought it was Coconut Head, but when I turn to look, I'm stunned to find a blonde head—taller than every other head in the room flouncing towards us.

It's Lumberjack Lady.

And…Oh my lord, she's wearing a white dress.

Remy follows my gaze and I hear him groan quietly. "Merde."

"What the hell, Remy?" I hiss at him.

He looks very guilty all of the sudden. "I forgot all about her," he says in disbelief as Lumberjack Lady draws closer, her eyes locked on Remy like a cat to a moving string, "I was so happy that I forgot all about her. I'm sorry—I'll take care of it." He moves away from us towards Lumberjack Lady and I can't help but feel a bubble of anger in me when I see her looking at him like she is now.

He's mine!

Uh…I mean…OH lord.

"Don't worry bout' it," Pyro says from my side, "you've got a grasp on him tighter than a gnat's ass stretched over an oil drum."

This completely draws all of my attention. I stare at him—I have no idea what he just said, and I have no idea if it's supposed to be funny or if he's being serious. "WHAT?" I ask him.

"You'll get it in a minute," he assures me before racing off when he catches a glimpse of the drink table.

Yeah, I don't think I'll get it, ever.

"Rogue!"

Startled, I shriek loudly and jump.

"KITTY!" I yell before I notice that I'm drawing a lot of stares. "What the hell?" I ask in a lower tone.

Kitty is dressed in a pretty blue dress and sparkly dangle earrings. I would tell her she looked nice if she wasn't giving me a cross look and she hadn't just scared me to death. "ROGUE! Why is Remy over there with that giant woman?"

I glare at her. Of course, I should have expected this. Kitty has probably been watching us like a hawk the entire time.

"Kitty, mind your own business."

Kitty places both hands on her hips and juts her chin out at me defiantly. "My friend's happiness is my business!"

I continue to glare murderously at her and I take a step closer. "You know what really is your business? It's the business of where I ring your scrawny neck!"

"Kitty," Piotr comes out of no where and takes a hold of Kitty's elbow. "I wish to speak with you." And he drags her off, amid Kitty's many protests.

Hm. I think I like Piotr.

I turn back away from the interesting sight of Kitty being dragged off (I have to wonder why she doesn't just phase out of his grip) to find Remy walking back towards me, looking kind of defeated. Oh no. I don't want to know what that means.

"She won't leave," he says disbelievingly, "I told her I changed my mind and she said she was stayin anyway."

Oooook then. How weird. I suppose she just wants to crash the wedding, or get free food? I have the sudden urge to draw Remy closer so that she can't get him too, but I hold that wild urge off.

"Ok, well…We'll just avoid her then?" I offer, though I suppose we could always get her kicked out. Haha.

Remy gives me appreciative look. "Really? You're so pretty."

"Uh, what?" I ask, confused, "That made no sense."

"Of course it didn't." He says and loops his arm in mine.

We head out to the lawn and we're not the only ones. The snow is still falling lightly, but it's not all that bad. There's a thin layer on the ground, and the red roses that are set around, outlining the isle contrast nicely with it. The white lights are glowing brightly in the bushes, peaking out through the leaves and the snow and somehow making the setting more romantic.

Remy and I end up sitting on the third row, right behind Tabitha and Coconut Head and thankfully he doesn't notice me there.

"Who is that man?" Remy whispers in my ear after we've sat down. I follow the direction to where he's cocked his head and notice he's questioning Coconut Head.

I shrug—I would tell him that he was the stripper from the party but Ororo asked us not to say anything about it. "Just one of Tabby's friends."

Remy is staring at the back of his little, round, blonde head and I can tell he's thinking. After a few moments, he leans over to whisper again. "Is it just me, or does his head closely resemble an orange?"

I clap a hand to my mouth at this. I can't laugh—if I laugh Coconut Head will know I'm here and everyone else sitting around us will stare.

Damn Remy for being funny. Damn him for thinking the same thing I had thought—except with a different fruit of course.

"Shut-up!" I finally hiss at him.

He laughs quietly—and I force myself not to look over at him while he does.

The minutes tick slowly by-it's only five till noon and everyone is seated. Logan is up at the front with Professor X behind him and Vivian across from him. I shiver and try not to look too obvious as I scoot closer to Remy. He's like a little furnace—I can feel warmth radiating off of him.

It's weird.

"Can I hold your hand?" He asks me as the wedding march starts and everyone stands up. "Or would that be breakin the rules?"

Well, no one is looking at me right now—they're all concentrated on Ororo so I quietly slip my hand into his. It was like someone turned on a switch—as soon as Ororo came out, a bunch of her friends started crying. I don't really understand why—Ororo looked pretty but I didn't want to cry about it. Does that make me a lesser person?

A lady sitting next to me says quietly to the lady sitting next to her, "She looks so precious!"

Ugh, I can't hear that word used normally anymore—Gollum ruined it for me.

If that went over your head, I'm sorry.

…

**Next Chapter: Tabitha's pills return with a vengeance, a certain two people run off together, and someone does the moon walk**


	23. The Chapter Where They Dance

**A/N: OK, so while the majority of you thought it was funny, a few of you found the whole corndog thing kind of perverted. So I guess I should mention that I had no absolutely no perverted intent when I wrote it—I just picked a random word and went with it. Really, I think you guys are the ones with the dirty minds ;) But don't take offense to that—you know I corndog all of you.**

**Hm…I guess that does sound of kind of messed up.**

…

Ok, I thought weddings were supposed to be happy. Everyone here started crying. I mean everyone. All of the women at least—Ororo, Jean, Kitty, all of Ororo's friends, Amara, Vivian, even Coconut Head let loose a few tears.

I'm not kidding.

When the ceremony was over, everyone seemed deliriously happy—it was kind of creepy. After it was over and done it, Ororo and Logan went back into the house and everyone swarmed around them like bees. If it had been me, I would have been very creeped out.

I guess this is why I shouldn't ever get married. I can just see myself on my wedding day, running off in terror because I got the willies from everyone lookin at me. But that's never going to happen. It can't. Let's not forget my stupid skin.

And now I've gone and depressed myself.

Remy and I are at the back of the line, still waiting to get back in the house. I'm shivering and refusing to let him give me his jacket. Kitty is right behind us with Piotr and is watching us closer than I like. Since the ceremony ended, she's practically been breathing down our necks trying to hear what we're saying to each other. A few times Piotr has given her a look and Kitty goes to pouting.

Interesting.

I'm very worried when I see Tabitha run off with Pyro, rudely pushing through people to get into the house. Coconut Head is standing in front of us alone, and as he turns to speak I inwardly groan.

"What time is it?" he asks us.

"Um…I thought you had a watch," I say as I point to his wrist.

He looks down, confused before he lifts his arm and sees his watch. "Oh, yeah, forgot about that," he says, chuckling before turning away from us again.

Remy and I share a worried glance.

And that's when Lumberjack Lady walks up. But before she says anything, Kitty pops her head in-between Remy and I and looks at me suspiciously.

"Rogue." she says.

"Kitty," I cast her sideways glance.

Kitty turns her head to Remy now. "Remy!"

But Remy is looking at Lumberjack Lady. "Kristen," he says dully.

"Remy," she replies coldly.

"Kitty!" Piotr says disapprovingly behind us.

Coconut Head turns around to us and for seemingly no reason looks at me and says, "Rogue!"

This is weird.

Lumberjack Lady is flipping her hair over her shoulder—wow her hair is pretty—and glaring daggers at Remy. "I just wanted to say that—"

She stops short suddenly and jerks her attention to Coconut Head who is staring back at her. Oddly enough, the band inside starts playing at exactly that moment, in a dramatic crescendo of romantic violins and cellos. All I can do is lift an eyebrow as Lumberjack Lady and Coconut Head move unconsciously towards one another.

"Hi," Lumberjack Lady says breathlessly, "I'm Kristin."

"I'm Eric," Coconut Head responds in that same breathless tone. "Would you…like to take a walk with me?"

Oookaaay…

Lumberjack lady nods her head enthusiastically. "Oh yes! Yes!"

And they take each other by the hand and skip off across the lawn.

Remy, Piotr, Kitty, and I all watch them with go the same incredulous look.

THAT was beyond a doubt, the _weirdest_ thing I've ever seen.

After Coconut Head and Lumberjack Lady became little dots in the distance, we finally went inside. Remy and I just barely managed to ditch Kitty (who tried to follow us) by diving behind a large bustle of crying women. I'm pretty sure that Ororo is in the midst of that somewhere, and I can't help but wonder why her claustrophobia hasn't acted up.

We both peek around this group to see Kitty sniffing around like a bloodhound trying to find us. Piotr is behind her, shaking his head and saying something to make her face screw up. I have a strong suspicion that he's telling her off for bothering us as Kitty finally turns to him and starts arguing with him. At least she's arguing—Piotr is just nodding and looking bored.

"I like Piotr," Remy says next to me, "but I think she's more suited with Kurt."

I jerk my gaze to him quickly. He did not just say that. "No, I think she should pick Piotr. It's less gross to think about, and they have this sort of…connection thing."

As if to prove my point, when we both look back over to Kitty and Piotr they're on the dance floor in each others arms.

"You don't think she has a connection with Kurt?" Remy asks curiously as he watches them too.

"I do, actually, but they seem to have more of a friend connection."

"Maybe that's a good thing, non?" Remy turns away from the couple and faces me.

Damn he looks hot. And let's not forget the washboard abs.

Just thought I'd mention that.

"Would you like to dance?" he asks me.

Oh…I don't know, should I? I want to, but…First off I'm clumsy when I don't want to be, so I can see that being a disaster. Secondly, everyone will look and talk more than they already have. Third, I don't know if that whole thing with Logan was resolved and I don't want Logan to end up killing Remy. That would ruin the whole wedding.

Uh…And also it would kill my date.

Before I can answer, however, my elbow is taken by another hand, and I look over to see Logan.

"Me first, bub," he says to Remy before leading me off.

Oh God. He's gonna kill me. I just know it. I haven't spoken to him since the first time he walked in on me and Remy—I've been too scared to go near him. Hey, you would be scared too. I know Logan wouldn't hurt me, but that thought does nothing to make his claws less menacing.

I'm rigid, waiting for an attack or a tongue lashing when Logan pulls me onto the floor, places one hand on my back, and takes my hand.

Oh. He actually did just want to dance.

"I've been meaning to talk to you." he says.

No! Here comes the lecture. I wish he had chosen to do this when we weren't dancing at his wedding. "What about?" I ask dully.

And then—Logan says the most shocking thing I've ever heard him say. "I'm sorry."

I'm taken aback by this approach. Never once have I heard him apologize for something before. It's weird. And nice. Though, I have to wonder if he's really sorry about it, or if Ororo put him up to it. But the look on his face is telling me it's coming from him. Before I can respond, he continues.

"I shouldn't have…I shouldn't have over reacted like I did. You're an adult now and I can't tell you what to do." He smiles just a little at my shocked face. "I just…I know his type and I don't want you to get hurt. I love you, kid."

Whoa.

I'm freaked.

I'm so freaked that I just stand there for a moment in silence. Aw…I love Logan too. And I…I can't say it. I can't even make myself. For once I really want to say it, but…but…oh I loathe myself. He's far off base, but Logan is the closest possible thing that I've ever had to a father and I still can't say that one word.

"Me too," I finally say, hating myself.

He doesn't seem to mind though—he lets go of my hand and gives me a big hug. A big Logan hug which I return, squeezing him tight. For just that one moment I kind of understand why everyone started crying at the wedding ceremony. It was that feeling—that sentimental happy that someone is happy feeling. And I'm happy which is making me all...happy and toasty inside.

You can say aw. It's an aw moment.

When we pull apart, Logan smiles lightly at me again.

"Well…the Cajun's waiting for you."

I shrug and take his hand again. "He can wait."

We dance silently for the rest of the song. I can't help but feel glad that it's slow, or else I would probably have looked like I had crabs in my pants. Uh—not that I've ever tried to dance fast before. HA, you will _never_ hear of me doing that. And boy am I glad that I've never seen Logan do it either.

The thought crosses my mind that I should tell Logan not to worry, that Remy and I aren't seeing each other. Because to everyone else, we aren't. But we're havin' a moment and I don't want to spoil it by lying. Besides, I doubt that Logan is going to go run around after this and gossip to everyone about Remy and I.

When the song ends, Logan gives me a kiss on the top of my head and tells me that I'm dismissed.

You can say aw again.

I'm about to head off when a giggling (I'm thinking tipsy) older woman I've never seen before grabs hold of Logan and starts dancing with him. He looks a bit startled by this, but moves to dance with her anyway. I'm contemplating on saving him when another sight catches my eye.

AW!

Remy is on the dance floor with a partner too. A little girl—she looks to be four or five—and she's standing on his feet and giggling and he rocks her back and forth.

Oh damn him for being so cute! Why must he do this me, WHY?

I don't know whose kid this is, but she's a cutey with bouncing blonde curls and a pink, poufy dress made out of tulle. She's giggling like crazy and Remy looks like he's laughing too.

See, if he had done this a month ago, we wouldn't have had to go through anything that we've gone through.

Which brings a question to my mind. Why didn't he just do that? Why didn't he come in and sweep me off my feet and be sweet and kind and all that mushiness? Why did he come in and annoy the hell out of me, try to fight me, make me want to out and out murder him, and decide to be nice just every now and then?

This is something I will ask him later.

I want to watch him dance some more but I'm stopped from doing this by Tabitha and Pyro who appear at my side with identical, mischievous grins in place. Oh, that can't be good. I don't know Pyro all that well (what the hell is that guy's real name?) but I know Tabby and I know that look.

"What have you done?" I ask suspiciously.

Pyro starts chortling and Tabby grins.

"Remember those pills I gave you when you were sick?" Tabitha asks.

Oh sweet mother.

"What have you done?" I ask again, this time a little scared.

Tabitha leans forward and says quietly, "See if you can guess whose drink we put it in." And off they went, sprinting away across the dance floor.

Pandemonium…I have the ominous feeling that it's coming and that it's coming fast. The affect of those pills are still clear in my memory, and if memory serves me right, I know they don't take very long to take affect. And I also know that they make you the happiest person on earth—and trust me, that's not a good thing.

I have to find whose drink they've drugged and I have to find them fast and lock that person up. But I need help to do it. I grab the first person I see. It turns out being Kurt, who is in the dining room getting food. He's eating those little weenies wrapped in bacon at an alarming rate. I honestly can't figure how he's able to taste them. He's more inhaling his food than eating it. Ew.

"Kurt!" I grab his wrist and start dragging him off, ignoring his muffled protests.

I glance around, trying to see any abnormal activity. Nothing is really abnormal at first; besides, all I really know to look for is a starry-eyed look from someone.

"Rogue!" Kurt finally says when he's swallowed his food. "What are you doing?"

"Tabby drugged someone's drink," I say quickly as I continue to glance around me, "and I don't know who."

"Drugged them with what?" Kurt asks curiously.

"I would love to know that," I mutter under my breath.

I spot Scott sitting by himself, and I figure I could use all the help I can get so I go over to him. He's just sitting alone, staring at his hands. Which is weird…At least I figure he's staring at his hands. I can't see his eyes, but I can see his hands on his lap and he's clenching and unclenching them again slowly. His mouth has formed this amazed looking O shape and that's when the all knowing dread creeps over me.

They've gotten Scott.

"Scott?" I ask when we reach him.

Still staring at his hands, he gasps and jumps back slightly, his eyebrows going up in surprise. "Hands?" he asks uncertainly.

Yep, they got Scott.

Kurt snorts loudly beside me and I get on my knees in front of Scott so that he can see me.

"Scott, it's Rogue," I say slowly.

He stares at me for a long a moment. I'm not sure what he's thinking, but I know that it must not be making any sense. "Rogue…yes…that is you," he nods slowly and then holds his hands up in front of my face. "Have you seen my hands?" he asks excitedly, "They're HUGE!"

I move his hands out of my face and look at him seriously. "Yes, they are very big. Now let's get you to bed."

His brain must be working very slowly now because he stares at me for another long moment. "Bed…no…I don't think so…I need to dance!" He hops to his feet suddenly, barely missing hitting my chin with his knees. I scramble to stand again and hold my hands out in front of him.

"No, Scott, no dancing, we have to go…outside." I don't care where we get him, just as long as it's out of here.

"No, I have to dance; I have to do it for the team!" He says excitedly, and to my horror, he rotates his hips and throws his arms up in the air.

Kurt completely loses it and falls against the wall, screaming in laughter. It is kind of funny, but right now I'm more embarrassed by the attention that we're gaining from people nearby. Kurt's obviously not going to be any help at all so I'm on my own. And I know from my own experience with these drugs that I'm fighting a losing battle.

"Scott!" I say quickly, "Jean is in trouble and she's…she's on the front lawn! You have to save her!"

Where is Jean anyway? I could really use her help right now.

"Jean?" Scott asks, looking a little worried. "No…she went to the bathroom, silly Rogue!" He slaps me on the back and then proceeded to take off towards the dance floor.

I desperately cling on the back of his jacket, but he keeps walking, seemingly not noticing me there at all, and dragging me along with him.

"Kurt!" I yell, gaining more stares, "Port us out of here!"

But Kurt didn't hear me over his laughter. Damn him! He was going to pay for this later. And I have to wonder if he's purposely ignoring me, just so he could see what Scott was going to do. I realize that I could always drain Scott—but I _really _don't want to do that and not to mention the thoughts I would get in my head. I might end up having my own form of high again.

So I let him go. He walks out to the middle of the dance floor, looking _very_ serious.

At this exact moment, Jean appears at my side and she is looking at Scott.

"What's he doing?" She asks, confused.

"Uh-"

The band decides to switch songs right then—switching from slow paced to something faster with a nice beat. To my and Jean's horror, and to Kurt, Tabitha, and Pyro's delight, Scott starts shaking his hips, tapping his foot, and nodding his head to the beat.

_Oh. My. God. _

This is a horrifying image that will be forever burned into my mind.

But, just as I think _that _Scott does this wild twirl and then proceeds to do the moon walk. Yes, the moon walk. And then—hey, Scott's actually not that bad of a dancer. Of course that doesn't matter though, when he is sober again we will tease him mercilessly.

Jean is watching this with her eyebrows together and her mouth open. "Is he messing around or…is he serious?" she asks me worriedly.

"Uh…Actually, there's somethin' you should know-" I tell try to tell her before we both notice that Scott is laying flat on the floor and pumping his hips up towards the ceiling.

"Oh my God!" Jean exclaims.

Remy walks over at that moment, looking scared. "What is he doing?"

Jean turns to look at me as I answer nervously. "Er…Tabitha and Pyro kind of…put _something_ in his drink to make him-"

But Jean was already gone, racing onto the floor (and boy did she look mad) to stop Scott from doing the worm. Aw, I would kind of like to see the worm. Hm, I wonder if he can actually do it. He does a good moon walk, so maybe. Why am I thinking about this? This is something that I NEVER thought I would be thinking about.

Let's move on.

Remy and I watch Jean talking to Scott for a few moments—he looks like he's arguing with her. She's having a hard time and finally Remy gets the idea to go ask the band to play something slower. I don't know if they took requests or if he bribed them or what, but a few minutes later the music had calmed.

I was just glad that Scott wasn't pumping his hips anymore.

After the music slowed, Scott still refused to the stop dancing and he clung on to Jean tightly, swaying them dangerously back and forth. Jean was lookin' kind of frustrated.

"Is it Remy's turn now?" Remy says into my ear, and before I can respond, sweeps me onto the floor and holds me tight against him.

I glance around quickly—Kurt is still laughing (his face is very red now), Scott has Jean in a death grip and she doesn't even notice us, Tabitha is talking to Evan again, Pyro is busy spiking the punch, and thankfully Kitty is no where to be seen.

Wait…Go back to the Pyro thing—

"Is this ok?" Remy asks, "Or would you rather dance with some other man?"

I roll my eyes. "Shut-up Remy." I snap at him, but he looks very smug as I clasp my hands together behind his neck.

This is nice. It feels nice. But don't think that I'm in corndog. I am sooo not in corndog, nor will I ever be in corndog with Remy. You do remember what corndog means, right? I hope so or else you are _very_ lost right now.

But it's stupid of me to be thinking about corndog so early in our…relationship. I bet _he's_ not thinking about corndog. I wonder if he ever has. Has any girl ever stirred corndog like emotions in Remy before? If so, I'd like to meet her, because for some reason I just can't imagine Remy in…corndog.

"What are you thinking about?" Remy asks me suddenly.

"Corndogs," I answer simply, and I can feel myself getting hungry.

He gives me strange look and then shakes his head. "Ok, then."

Hm…I wonder what Remy is thinking about. Probably not…corndog. I bet it's something about how best to push my buttons next time. Why he enjoys this I don't understand. Why he enjoys being _hit_ I don't understand. That's just weird. Maybe he's a Masochist. EW...NO, I think he just likes to push me to my breaking point because apparently, I look sexy when that happens.

At least that's what he says.

"Remy?" I ask him quietly so that the people dancing nearby can't hear me. "How come I have to be mad for you to find me attractive?"

He smirks and cocks an eyebrow at this. "Are you fishing for compliments?"

"No, I just want to know."

"Don't worry, ma belle fille, you're attractive all the time." He pulls me a little closer and leans down. "Don't forget," he whispers in my ear, "you're the sexiest woman alive."

Have I mentioned how much _trouble _I'm in?

Remy's comment sends a shiver down my spine, though it's perfectly warm in here. I don't know what to say back to this, so I don't respond, but instead stare intently at his chest as if it's the most interesting thing I've ever seen. Which, actually, it kind of is. It's not washboard abs, but it's close to the washboard abs so that makes it the washboard abs neighbor.

Washboard abs.

Why have my thoughts strayed to washboard abs? And why can't I stop thinking washboard abs? Why is it that all I did was look at his chest and think about washboard abs? Hm…I wonder what Remy's workout is. I wonder how long it took him to get washboard abs.

I think everyone should get them. All the men at least. Remy should share his secret and then everyone can work out and get washboard abs. And then they could all walk around with their shirts off!

Oh my God. I need help. I need some serious washboard abs. I mean help. I need serious help.

"What are you thinking about now?" Remy asks curiously.

I feel my cheeks go pink. Washboard abs. "Um…why?"

"You had this weird look on your face."

Oh lord. I have to wonder what this look is. If my thoughts have anything to do with washboard abs, then it can't be a good expression. Should I tell him what I'm thinking about? Ha, that would be an interesting conversation. But maybe that would be best reserved for a time when we're alone…and I have plenty of whip cream on hand.

"Tell me," he presses with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Is it about corndogs again?"

I quickly shake my head and then stare at his chest again. His chest is right next to—oh you know what it's next to.

…The washboard abs.

Ah! I shouldn't have thought about them! I've opened that can of washboard abs again that I mentioned earlier…I would _really_ like to get a can of those.

"Don't you think it's kind of silly not to tell anyone about us?" Remy asks when he sees that I'm not going to answer his other question. "I mean, they all know, even if you think they don't."

I shrug. I know they probably know…or at least they suspect. Yes, they just suspect. They've never seen Remy and I together…except for right now. But we're just dancing, two people can dance. Two people can dance very close and have whispered conversations with only a great set of washboard abs separating them…Uh—I mean a tux and dress.

Not only that, it is perfectly normal that Remy and I should be in his room for five minutes, then have Logan come in and want to kill Remy. Logan was just over-reacting. That is the excuse I will use. And ALSO, that thing on my neck is a bruise, not a hickey. A bruise that formed VERY fast after my neck got hurt. It's a good thing I went to the store yesterday and got some make-up to cover up my bruise.

And don't forget the washboard abs…Wait, what?

"They don't know." I say stubbornly and Remy just shakes his head at me.

"Of course they do, they're not blind."

Dammit. They know, don't they? Well they would understand if they saw the washboard abs. Believe me, they would understand. Of course, I would like to think of them as my washboard abs (though they are, in fact, Remy's) and I don't really want other people drooling over them.

I want to drool over them…and pour some stuff on them.

Like syrup.

AH! What is _wrong _with me? Oh wait, I know. It's washboard abs.

"Let's talk about something else," I say quickly.

He shrugs. "Ok…I want to ask you another question."

"Ain't that all you've been doin?"

"Yes, but here comes another one."

I sigh and wait for whatever intensely personal question is coming now. Surely it's intensely personal because…well…Remy never asks me anything normal, never asks me things that any person would ask me. He's never said, 'hey, Rogue, how's it goin?' except for once I think.

"All this time you've been refusin me," he says, "there was one thing that I couldn't figure out bout you." Yep, it's personal. "Why didn't you want me?"

Hell, I don't know. I've wanted Remy for a long time, but I was too stupid and stubborn to see it. Of course, I don't want to tell Remy that every coherent thought in my mind was constantly having to battle through a fog of stupid to break through. Ha, that would make him run in the other direction.

"It wasn't that I didn't want you," I tell him, "It was that…I didn't trust you. And I won't lie; I still don't trust you all that much. And it was also because…you are _really _annoying."

Despite these words, he breaks into a grin—the kind of grin that makes me smile too.

"What?" I ask him.

"You said you wanted me." he says in a very satisfied voice.

I lift an eyebrow at this, with a strong suspicion that _that_ was all he had heard me say. "I also said you were annoying."

"And also that you want me."

I stare at him. "And also that you I didn't trust you!"

"And also that you wanted me." He continued on grinning at me and I knew that arguing with him about it was pointless.

We danced in silence for a few more minutes. He never stopped grinning like an idiot, though I told him several times to stop. And several times he actually did try, but failed horribly and it only widened when I would roll my eyes and sigh. When the song finally ended, he announced that he was thirsty.

"I'm gonna get some punch. Do you want some?" he asks.

Hm…It seems like there was somethin about the punch that I should be remembering. Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing.

"Yeah, sure, get me big cup." I tell Remy and he walks off.

Yes, today is a good day.

…

**Next Chapter: Someone gets drunk and then someone says the word love.**


	24. The Chapter With All The Love

Amara is drunk.

Let that soak in for a moment.

...Ok.

Remy came back with our drinks a few minutes ago. We sat down and started sipping—and we immediately realized that the punch had been spiked. That is when I remembered what I had seen Pyro doing. And now I have gone back to idiot status.

WHY did Remy have to be so damn hot and distracting? Why couldn't he just stop grinning, and being sweet, and asking questions, and dancing with me for ten seconds? What a stupid thought that was. I would rather have all the sweet moments with Remy and have someone get drunk.

At least, this is what I thought before Amara came stumbling up to us, slurring her words and sloshing a cup of punch down her front.

Remy ran off to dispose of the rest of the punch while I took hold of Amara and tried to drag her upstairs. But wouldn't cha' know it, Amara is a _mean_ drunk. And I'm not just talkin' grumpy mean like Logan on a regular basis.

Amara hurled insults at me, said things that would make a sailor blush, and then tried to fight me. This was far from the girl that I knew, I thought, as I dodged her many blows, and as long as I can help it, I will never let her near any more alcohol.

She tried to hit me, she tried to kick me, she tried to bite me, and then she threw her drink at me and it hit one of the bouquets of roses. It was about this time when Pyro came up and started coming on to her, saying 'I love a feisty drunk sheila,' to which Amara replied—and this is my clean version—'I love when strange EXPLECIT Australians get kicked in the EXPLECIT with a EXPLECIT and a bucket of EXPLECIT and don't forget the eggs'.

I know, weird. But you had to be there to understand it. I'm not telling you what those EXPLICITS really say.

Then, when I tried to get her to calm down, she flew to floor on her back and burst into loud, wailing sobs.

This is when everyone noticed us. Noticing Logan coming towards us, Remy scooped her up and we both ran upstairs.

When we got Amara to her bedroom, she tried to fight us some more. Picking a shoe off of the floor, she hurled it at Remy's head and screamed that she hated us.

Wow.

Then, after she let out a hearty string of curses that could make one's ears bleed, she stomped into the bathroom and wouldn't come back out. We heard her in there, slinging things around and screaming and crying.

"Um…shouldn't we break down the door or something?" I ask Remy uncertainly. I'm worried that she's gonna hurt herself. It sounds like the end of the world from where I'm standing. I don't know how she's finding so many things to throw in her tiny bathroom, but she's somehow managing it.

Remy shrugs, looking unconcerned. "Non, she's fine. If she gets hurt we'll know."

No one else came into her room, though I _know_ they saw what we were dealing with. But I can't say that I didn't blame them. If it had been the other way around, and someone else had had to deal with Amara drunk, I would probably still be downstairs dancing right now.

"Wanna go back downstairs?" Remy asked just as something hit the door and banged.

I shake my head. "No, I think we should stay and keep an eye on her."

"I DON'T NEED YOUR EYES!" Amara screeched wildly from the bathroom.

Oh my.

"Ok," Remy nods and heads for the door, "then I'll be right back."

"What, where—" I ask but he was gone.

I sat down on the floor next to Amara's bed and leaned my back against it. I really wish I had my aspirin right now. The crashes and screaming and wailing from the bathroom aren't getting any quieter and it's startin' to get to me.

Someone needs to hurt Pyro. Who invited him to the wedding, anyway? Obviously, someone did because no one told him to leave. I wonder if Pyro being hung over and passed out on Remy's floor yesterday had anything to do with it. Remy and Logan had gone to a bar, I knew that much. And obviously at some point Pyro had come into this story. Had Logan and Pyro become friends?

Ha!

Yeah, sure.

I end up having to listen to Amara's crashing and screaming for five more minutes before she eventually breaks down and starts crying on the bathroom floor. But I had become so used to the noise at that point that the semi-silence was ringing in my ears.

Finally, Remy returns carrying a cup of punch.

"Is that the spiked punch that you said you were going to get rid of?" I ask him suspiciously.

He nods. "Yes, and this was the only cup left. Cheers."

He holds his cup up but I just stare at him. Shrugging, he drinks.

It's about five minutes later when we hear Amara finally stop sobbing. The sounds of her hiccoughing and sniffling are all that we can hear now, and I'm grateful. I've gotten pretty tired of listening to her yelling and sobbing. I just hope she doesn't think to come back out here again, because if that happens we can't let her leave and I can see that turning into another screaming fest.

When she's quiet, I glance sideways over at Remy, who is sitting on the floor next to me. He really shouldn't be though; he's going to ruin his suit. Though obviously he doesn't care, since he did sit down here in the first place.

The afternoon sunlight (still blotted out by snow clouds) streams in across his face and I can't help but notice how handsome he is. Too handsome for me. I'm average at best and he's so…so very good looking. And he must know this. Why doesn't he care? Why does he seem to want me more than anyone else?

But at this thought, the memory of his husky whisper in my ear comes back. _'Don't forget, you're the sexiest woman alive.'_

Did he really mean that? Well…I can't see why he would lie about it. That would be stupid. That would be almost tantamount to _my_ stupidity. But no one can be that stupid. Only me. So…am I really…sexy? Am I really beautiful as he says all the time? He certainly makes me feel that way when I'm around him; he certainly lets me know that he wants me.

I unconsciously let out a little sigh as these thoughts course through my mind. This draws his attention and he looks over and fixes me with a stare.

"Hi," he says quietly and gives me a little grin.

"Hi," I reply, wishing that I didn't have to restrain myself from letting out another sigh when he looks at me like that. I don't like having to restrain myself. First off, it's no fun, and secondly, I don't like feeling weak. Because whether I like it or not, Remy does make me weak. Weak in my heart and weak in my knees and weak in my resolve. At least he makes being weak fun. Sometimes.

"Remy," I ask as that question in my head comes back to nag at me, "remember when I was sick and I asked you why you wanted me?" He nods and I continue. "Well…what's the answer? You said you didn't want to scare me. I don't get it."

He looks at me for a long moment and I can tell he's thinking. "Of course you don't get it; it made no sense," he winks at me before drinking from his punch. "And I still don't think you're ready."

This is confusing. I try to read his face for some emotion but he's just got his usual teasing look on. What on earth about him wanting me could make me scared? I'm not ready for what? These thoughts don't really make me scared, as I would have expected them to, but they do make me nervous. But that's normal, Remy always makes me nervous.

I sigh again—there's no point in arguing the truth out of him. If he doesn't want to say it, he isn't going to.

"Ok then," I concede, "but will you tell me one day?"

"Of course," he says assuredly, "and on that day I will very happy and I have no doubt that you will scream and run the other direction."

"Uh—what?"

"Nothin," he says quickly before drinking from his punch again.

Ok, _now_ I'm scared.

"So, who had to fight you into that dress?" He asks me with a smirk playing on his face.

I shake my head and look down at my pretty dress. "No one; I really like it."

"I like it too." He says and then he grins, "Of course, I would like you in anything and everything and nothin at all."

"Shut-up."

He ignores me. "I would even like you if you dressed up like a giant fish. That would be weird, but I'd still like you. Because I would know that under that fish costume was a fine, beautiful naked girl."

"Remy," I say warningly but he continues on as if I had never said anything at all.

"Or, if you decided to dress up like an astronaut and go to the moon—heaven help the moon—I would _still_ think you the most beautiful woman ever." He grinned again at my blush. "OR-"

"Remy, please-"

"If you wanted to dress up like one of those like one of those things off that movie…what is it…Oh yeah, Oompa Loompas. I would STILL want you…Well, maybe not if you dressed like an Oompa Loompa, because that would be way too off the wall. Plus, people would stare at us when we went out."

People already stare at us when we go out. The memory in Wal-mart and Little Remy Riding Hood comes up, as does my barfing under the table in that restaurant. But of course, these thoughts are not what I'm thinking of most. I'm thinking most about how I'd like to shut him up so he would stop putting these stupid images in both of our heads.

"Remy," I say and he grins.

"Yes, Rogue?"

Grrr….

"Stop talking."

"Only if you stop being pretty."

"Please stop."

"No. You're pretty."

I really want to yell at him. Or hit him, whichever comes first. WHY I want to do these things is odd enough—the man was just telling me that I'm pretty, I should be flattered by it. But no, I'm me, and remember what I am? Come on, you know it. I'm a bona fide idiot through and through.

But even though he is saying these nice things, he's saying them in the most annoying way possible. And that lets me know that he anticipated that I would lose the weak hold that I have on my temper and fly all over the place.

I really need anger management…But you already knew that.

"Fine, whatever," I say finally and cross my arms and look determinedly away from his smirking face.

I don't even look over when I hear him move, I stare out of the window in front of us, watching the snow fall.

And this is why I'm surprised when I feel a pressure on my lap and I look down to see his smirking face looking back up at mine. Grrr…He did that only purpose. He did that to make me look at him.

I sigh as I look down at his head in my lap. "What are you doing?"

"Lying down, do you mind?"

I narrow my eyes at him and force myself not to throw him off. If I did, he would have won. And I lose at these things more than I care to. My temper is too bad for me to win and I have no patience with Remy. Of course—Oh no, now he's grinning at me.

I hate my heart.

My heart is _stupid_.

"You're going to ruin your suit," I tell him as I notice how carelessly he is stretched out across the floor.

He shrugs. "I can afford it."

I _so_ don't want to know where he got the money from.

"Remy…"

"Hm?"

"What happened after you left here with Logan the other night?"

One corner of his mouth lifts. "Oh, nothin…just drank a little too much is all…You know, Wolvie's got a nice singing voice."

Ok, he did not just say that. Wolvie—I mean Logan—I have never heard him sing. The thought in my head is weird enough, let alone the image. And Logan singing with Remy and Pyro? Come on, that's just absurd. Remy must be teasing me.

"Be serious," I prod at his arm.

"I swear I'm being serious. I only remember bits and pieces…But I do remember singing karaoke with John and Wolvie."

John! That's his name. Good…I feel ridiculous calling someone Pyro all the time. Oh, and also: they sang KARAOKE? I don't know whether to believe this or not so I decide to pass over that subject. In fact, I'll try not to ever remember it again. It's that scary.

"So how did you convince him to stop being an ass?"

He shrugs. "I didn't, he just decided on his own."

Whoa.

"He loves you," he says, "that's nice."

There's that stupid word again. Why can't we just change it to corndog and leave it be? Of course, I have no doubt that if it were changed it to corndog, suddenly I wouldn't be able to say corndog and able to say love. Ugh. I hate that word. It's stupid.

Something about my expression must have caught Remy's eye. He furrows his brows and starts to study my face.

"What's a matter?" he asks.

I quickly shake my head. "Nothin."

He ignores this and continues to stare at me. "Was it something I said?"

"No, let's forget it."

"Forget it? Why are you shying away from the subject?"

"I ain't shying away from the subject," I say, starting to get irritated, "let's just get a new subject."

He stares at me for a moment. "I don't understand why you don't want to talk about Logan."

My patience snaps and before I can stop myself, I blurt out, "It's not Logan I don't want to talk about!"

Pulling my arm over his chest, he pulls up my sleeve and starts to idly draw little patterns on my skin. He's got his always frightening serious Remy look on—like he's thinking about something. And I'm sure that whatever he's thinking about is something that I don't want him to be thinking about.

Though I am irritated, his touch on my arm is soothing, as is his silence. Glad that the conversation is over, I lean my head back against Amara's bed and stare up at her ceiling.

We sat together in silence for a few minutes. That was the first time that has ever happened with me and Remy. It was nice. I actually felt happy and content…Remy kept his serious thinking face on the whole time. For once I wished that I could read minds like Professor X or Jean.

Of course, his fingers were distracting me from thinking about it too much. He would trail them lightly all the way down to the crook of my arm and the back up to my hand, around my fingers, and then go back down my arm again. And he seemingly didn't notice the affect it was having on me, because he just kept that look on his face and stared out at the snow the whole time.

Finally, he turns his head to look at me and I pick my head up off of the bed to look back at him.

"Was it that I mentioned love?" he asks suddenly.

I don't know why I did it, it was almost as if it were involuntary, something I couldn't control. My whole body bristles at his words and I jerk my arm away.

"No!" I answer…a _bit_ hysterically.

His eyebrows lift in surprise. "There's no need to get mad, chère," he says gently.

"Oh, REALLY?" I say wildly and I start scrambling to stand up. He looks a little alarmed by this…er...perfectly normal reaction and stands up too.

"Rogue…" He says slowly and he looks kind of frightened.

"I…I have to go to bathroom," I say quickly and sprint out of the room.

He just looks very confused as I storm past him and I'm surprised when he doesn't follow me. Ok, this is stupid. I just need to go in a room for a moment and calm down. Now that I've made myself look like a fool in front of Remy.

What is _wrong _ with me? It's not just that I can't say the word. No…strangely enough…everytime I hear it, something inside of me tells me to be scared. And I am scared. And it's stupid because I do love and I know I'm loved. There's nothing about it to fear, so why do I?

Something inside of me is _not right_.

And…oh great. Now I'm crying. Little tears sting at the corner of my eyes and I bite my lip, forcing myself to hold them back. I will not cry. I will not cry. There is nothing to cry ABOUT so I will not cry. Except that I'm an idiot and I can't say the word love of course. Other than that, I'm as dandy as Sandy. Whoever Sandy is.

Up ahead, Jean is coming out of her room, looking very tired. I turn my head so that she can't see me in this embarrassing state, but she sees before I can turn.

"Rogue, what's a matter?" She rushes forward and makes me stop.

Sighing, I look up at her sadly. Something about my look must have said something to her, because she takes me by the arm and ushers me into the bathroom.

"Why are we in the bathroom?" I ask, confused when she closes the door behind us.

"Scott's passed out in my room," she says quickly, "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I shake my head quickly, "I'm just stupid."

"Hey, don't say that," she rubs me on my shoulder and looks me in the eye. "You're not stupid."

Oh if only she knew.

"You don't have to tell me," she says slowly, "but…I don't like seeing you cry. I've never seen you cry before. You're the tough one."

We stare at each for a few moments. I can feel my lower lip trembling. Oh good grief.

And then—for no reason—I bust into tears. Looking a little alarmed by this, Jean wraps her arms around me quickly and pulls me close. I don't know why people hug you when you're crying. Have you ever noticed that when they do, you cry even more? Well, like the blubbering baby I'm turning out to be, I cry more. But I was thankful that I do have someone to hug me, no matter how much more it makes me cry.

In my misery, I almost forgot to avoid her skin. But she had obviously thought of that before hand (somehow) and had spread her hair out over her chest so that I could cry freely into it. It was like she did this everyday.

She rubbed my back soothingly and smoothed my hair and didn't say anything else. And though she didn't say anything, that didn't stop me from blabbing my mouth.

"I'm stupid!" I wail sadly and she shushes me.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am—you just don't know."

"Then why don't you tell me?"

"Fine," I cry hysterically, "this day is…is…Remy is being a corn monster, there's coconuts and lumberjacks flying everywhere, Logan is suddenly sweet, Scott is doing the moon walk, Amara said some _really_ mean things to me, and—and I can't say love!"

"Um…You can't say what?"

"Love! I can't say love!" I wail miserably into her hair. I can't believe I can't say love. No matter how many times I remember it, it never gets less depressing and I—

Oh.

I said it.

"For some reason I think you can say it," Jean says, sounding slightly amused by my weird rant.

I pull back and stare at her. Well. Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I said love. I said it. WHY—HOW—of ALL times. Why now? Why am I able to say it when I'm crying like a baby into Jean's hair? Why couldn't I say it when Logan said it to me earlier? Why couldn't I say it when Remy asked me what I didn't want to talk about?

Hm…for some reason, this moment brings back a memory…something the Professor said to me…_ 'You_ _don't have to say it if you don't feel it_'. He said that when I couldn't say love to him. Why am I thinking of this now? What an odd time to remember that.

Huh…it probably doesn't mean anything.

But anyway…I said it. That surely must mean that I can say it now, right?

"Oh," I say slowly, "I guess I can say…love."

HA! I said it! Jeez Louise, I'm so messed up in the head. I guess I just had to say it once to be able to say it all the time?

Jean nods and smiles at me. "Yes, you certainly can." Then she suddenly looks serious as I pull back and start cleaning my face. "If you don't mind my asking…what exactly do you mean when you say you can't say love?"

I shrug and sniffle as I wipe my eyes. "I don't know…I just…physically could not make myself say it."

"But you can now," she probes as she studies me. "Why?"

"Hell if I know. Maybe you can tell me?"

Pursing her lips, she stares at me for another long moment. I feel a bit uncomfortable under her stare and try not to look like I care. For one wild moment I have to wonder if she's reading my mind. But I know that can't be true…or maybe it is. But Jean usually asks before she does such a thing.

Finally, she sighs and shrugs. "I don't know…Maybe…this is just a wild guess," she says as she stares down the shower curtain, "but maybe it's because…you have issues with that sort of thing. I mean, you've been emotionally abused repeatedly, mostly by-" she glances up at me apprehensively, "by Mystique."

I stand and blink as I try to understand what she's getting at.

"And…she was your mother." she says slowly, "You…loved her, right?"

I just shrug at this. I really don't want to talk about _her_. That's one conversation topic that is _always_ off limits with me. But maybe Jean is right. Maybe I can't love because everytime I try, I get beat up in the process. And Jean is certainly right when saying that Mystique was the main villain in most of my bad experiences.

Let's see, I loved my friend Misty until I found out that she was, in fact, Mystique and only hanging out with me to spy on the X-men. Even though I hated to admit it, and I still hate to admit it, I didn't want to forgive Mystique for that, yet on some level maybe I did…possibly have a tiny inkling of love in me for her.

And then she used me to free Apocalypse. I was controlled and used to beat up all of the people that I really did love…and some of the people that I didn't.

So maybe somewhere deep in my subconscious, my mind tells me not to love, not to even think it—because if I do, I could get hurt again.

Oh my gosh…Jean is almost as good at this as the Professor is. Remember that conversation with Professor X where he made me think? Ok, how the hell do they do that? Hm…I wonder if they could teach it. They could. And I could teach people how to properly appreciate washboard abs.

Yes, I'm tryin' to lighten the mood. Is it working?

If not: rubber donkey.

And moving on…

"Thanks Jean…I think you're right." I reach over and give her a quick hug.

"Sure, no problem," she smiles before looking confused. "Hey, um…what did you say about coconuts and lumberjacks? And what's a corn monster?"

"Uh…nothing," I say quickly before I start checking my face in the mirror. "It's just…that blonde stripper guy—don't you think his head is really-"

"Round?" she asks, almost excitedly.

"Ha, yes."

"I've been calling him Baseball Head…I suppose you've been calling him Coconut Head? Hm…that does have a nice ring to it."

I snort at this. Apparently everyone has a different name for Coconut Head. And they all have to do with his freakishly round head. I'm sorry, I know he can't help that but…His head is in the shape of a coconut. HOW could I not notice?

Jean is straightening her hair. I feel a little guilty when I see that it's now splotched with my tears in some places. I apologize but she doesn't seem to mind and just shrugs it off. She asks me if I'm ok again before she leaves, saying worriedly that she is going to check on Scott.

Poor Scott.

And…poor Remy. I yelled at him when he didn't deserve it. He probably thinks I'm crazy now. Which, in all fairness, that wouldn't be a wrong assumption. I feel bad. He's been such a sweet corn monster today and I had to go and act like a dinosaur high on crack.

I'm gonna have to go apologize to him now and try to nicer in the future. Seriously, I need the anger management. Or the stupid management. I need to learn how to properly manage my stupidity.

I walk back towards Amara's room and find Remy outside in the hall looking worried. Aw, poor corn monster—I mean Remy.

I stop in front of him and am about to apologize when he speaks first.

"Look, Rogue, we have to talk about this." he says, and he sounds nervous. Never before had I ever heard him sound—or look—like this so I fall silent and wait for him.

"I don't understand it," he says slowly, "I don't get why you didn't want to talk about love. But…if you can't talk about it then that…that scares me." He takes hold of both of my elbows and pulls me close. Staring down at me with so much intensity that it makes me go weak in the knees, he says slowly, "And it scares me because…Because I'm in love with you."

Oh.

…Oh.

Ok.

I…I don't…I don't know what to think…Remy…what did he say? Did he say? He said…He did say it. Remy just told me that he loved me.

Well. There's only _one thing_ to say back to _that_.

"No you don't!"

He blinks—over and over really quickly as if he's still trying to digest what I said. As if _I'm_ the one talking crazy.

"Wait, what?" he says incredulously, "YES, I do!"

I shake my head quickly, growing more worried by the second. "No, no Remy, you don't."

He grips my arms, almost to the point of pain. "Yes, Rogue, I do. I love you. Now accept it."

Oh my God. He's _not_ lying. He's telling me the truth. He's telling me that he loves me and I'm standing here like an idiot and refusing to believe it. "Y-you accept it," I stutter nervously. I know that made no sense but…this doesn't either. What am I supposed to say back to this?

It's like he read my mind because as soon as I think this, Remy says, "I'm not asking you to say it back. I'm telling you how I feel, and I'm telling you not to be afraid of it. I love you."

"Stop saying that!" I say helplessly.

"No. I love you."

"Stop it!"

"I love you."

"Cut it OUT!"

"I love you."

"Remy-"

"I love you."

I let out a sound of frustration at this. He won't stop saying it! Why won't he stop? He has to stop. He has to…Oh. He must really love me.

Whoa.

Remy loves me. Remy loves me despite my stupidity, my inability to control my anger or keep my patience, my flip-flopping mind, all of my rejections, my poison skin, and my stupid nicknames for him—there's a lot of things wrong with me and Remy has seen them all and yet…He loves me.

Hm…It feels nice.

Actually, it feels really-

"Rogue," Remy says quietly, "please say somethin."

"I…I believe you."

It definitely wasn't the best answer that I could come up with, but it seemed to satisfy Remy. There was that grin—that big happy Remy grin that makes me tingly. He drops my arms in favor of sweeping me up in a hug. Feeling a little dazed, I hug him back.

Huh…is this what happy feels like?

…

**Next Chapter: Remy hides, and hides, and then hides again, and Rogue does a lot of distracting. **


	25. The Chapter With The Week

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, Rhett, Scarlett, or Gone With the Wind. Though I wish I did because it's my favorite book ever. **

**A/N: Quite a few of you liked the—I love you-no you don't. So I guess I should mention that I totally stole that from my parents. My mom and dad (who have been married now 35 years) met in high school and fell in love and the first time my dad told my mom that he loved her, she told him—no you don't! Because she didn't believe him. For some reason, I really love that story :)**

…

The next week was undoubtedly the most deliriously happy week that I've ever had. It was the best seven days of my life and I was sure that at any minute it was going to stop. Surely nothing this good could go on forever? But it didn't stop. And everytime I saw Remy it seemed to get better. And the more time we spent together, the more I liked him.

We fell into an interesting routine. I still didn't want anyone to know about us, so we had to do a little sneaking, but it was worth it.

Remy started this routine. Every morning he would somehow beat my alarm clock and come to wake me up himself. Sometimes he would lean over me and plant kisses all over my face and neck and shoulders until I woke up in a happy daze.

This was my favorite way to wake up.

But then other mornings, he would come in and rudely tear the covers off of me and start tickling my sides until I was whimpering at him to stop. Then when he stopped and I would kick him, he would commence with the tickling until I was ready to kill him.

After I was up and showered and dressed, Remy started to bring me breakfast.

This I would not have minded. But then sometimes he insisted that he feed me every bite as if I were I child. This annoyed me at first, and being so hungry, I just took vengeful bites anyway to put up with him. But then when he made me more of his famous Remy French toast, I was ok with it.

Remy is a good cook. I found this out every morning when he would bring me something different that he had made for me when I was in the shower.

After this, I went to school and…I thought about Remy all day. For some reason, my teachers' voices were getting more and more jumbled, and once when I was half asleep in class I could have sworn that one of them had a Cajun accent.

But anyway…

After I came home, I would go strait to my room to do my homework. Remy was already there, waiting for me everytime. He would kiss me on the nose and ask me how my day went—and I would usually reply that I didn't know. Because I've found out that it's hard to think of normal everyday things when I'm with Remy.

I set to do my homework—and Remy insisted that I had to sit in his lap to do this. This was not only annoying, but also very distracting and I usually didn't get any homework done until after he had left.

Sometimes he would help me—point out mistakes I had made or he would explain things to me. But other times he just wanted to play with my hair or eat my neck and whisper things in French in my ear while I was working—or _trying_ to work.

Once, Kitty had almost caught us doing this. I had just dropped my pencil and was about to give in to his insistent lips on my ear when we heard the footsteps out in the hall. Remy threw me out of his lap and ran into my bathroom. Kitty came in to me on the floor looking very flushed and angry.

But I'll skip that story.

After I did my homework was usually the time of day when we had training session. But Logan and Ororo were off on their honeymoon, so it was either Mr. McCoy or Scott in charge of these. They weren't that hard—they were actually kind of fun.

But while we did these, Remy and I were careful to not go near each other or even look at each other weird. Kitty, looking mad, had asked me on Wednesday why Remy and I were fighting. That made me relax a little. All week Remy had kept saying that no one was buying our charade, so I had been worried about it.

Speaking of Remy—since the beginning of the week he has kept saying things in French to me at the oddest times. He knows it makes me mad, because I don't know what he's saying, so he keeps doing it and then laughing and running off before I can hit him.

Finally I got tired of this and bought a French to English dictionary on the way home from school one day. And I found out that he wasn't always saying something gross as I had suspected. But he did sometimes.

After I had found out what gross thing he _did_ say, I went home, planning on dunking his head in a toilet. But when I got to my room, he had brought me a present.

And who can turn down a wrapped present? I opened to find that he had bought me a book—Gone With the Wind. My heart melted—he remembered me telling him that it was my favorite movie. Remember? WAAAAAY back on our first date? Anyway, after this, I forgot to yell at him about the hidden things he had said in French.

I hungrily started to read the book. I read it constantly for hours on end and started neglecting Remy in the meantime. I found that it was WAY better than the movie—and included several things that the movie did not.

On the second day I had read all day (and Rhett was helping Scarlett flee the city of Atlanta because it was under siege), Remy stole my book and wouldn't tell me where he hid it.

I got _very_ mad at him and tried everything from screaming at him, to searching through his things, to pouting like a kid at him, but no matter what I did, he wouldn't give it back.

Then he did a VERY bad thing.

He tried to throw my sunflowers away. So what if they were dead and droopy and were starting to stink? I want to keep my sunflowers. They were special to me. We argued over it—I don't know why anyone didn't hear us—until Remy, rolling his eyes, left.

He came back an hour later with four more bouquets of sunflowers. This worried me, but he insisted that no one had seen him. Then we argued again when I told him that he couldn't just _replace _ my sunflowers with more sunflowers, that it wasn't the same.

Then he made a deal. He said he would give me all the new sunflowers _and_ he would give me my book back if he could throw the other flowers away.

Thinking of Scarlett fleeing Atlanta made me accept this deal. I was, however, very unhappy when Remy pulled the book out of under my bed. I hadn't even looked in my room, thinking surely that he would have hid it in his room.

But I forgot to be mad when I started to read again. That book was over a thousand pages long but I finished it in four days.

Best. Book. Ever.

After I had finished it, I found Remy and gave him a lot of attention. And I don't mean in a gross way. We talked—and we actually had a normal conversation. He told me stories about when he was a kid, about his thieving 'career' and about other women he had dated.

That last subject was not one that I had really wanted to talk about—until he mentioned one woman named Maria who had apparently worn an inch of red lipstick all the time. I giggled at this story—and when Remy had told me to stop I had thought it was funnier.

I also found out some other things about Remy—more personal things. Like, for instance, he liked it when I would run my hands through his hair, and when I kissed him on the sensitive skin right behind his ears, and when I would trace his jaw line with my fingertips, and when I told him that I liked his washboard abs.

Yes, I brought up the washboard abs.

He had just laughed at this and then asked me to run my hands through his hair again.

But there was one thing about this whole week that I would change. Just one, teensy tiny thing.

Remy wouldn't kiss me on my lips again.

I hadn't asked him too, but I had given him every clue I could think of. When I hugged him when I got home from school or when he left me for the night, I would get close to him—I didn't put my lips on his, but I put them pretty darn close. But everytime I would do this, he would grin and kiss me on the cheek or on the forehead or my nose.

Finally, last night I had become so frustrated by this I asked, "Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?"

He had just grinned again and shook his head. "I think you've had enough loving today. Good night, Rogue." And he kissed me on the cheek and left.

Grrr. That was seriously getting annoying. But ain't gonna kiss him…I don't know why but I'm not goin to.

Besides that one little thing, the week was perfect. I was steadily growing more and more er—fond of Remy. And it made me feel very…happy seems like such a light word but I'll use it. It makes me very happy inside to have the knowledge that Remy loves me.

Happy seems like a light word because, well, I don't know what the word is to describe what I'm feeling. I've never felt it before, so I couldn't tell you what it is. It's a very funny feeling—almost like a constricting around my heart. My knees go weak and my mouth goes dry, my palms get sweaty and I get light headed.

And the scary thing is, all those feelings I'm describing don't just happen when Remy is around or when Remy is touching me.

They all happen when I just _think_ of Remy.

But moving on…

Now, today is Saturday. I had hoped to spend more time with Remy since I didn't have school, but Tabitha got to me first. She asked me if I wanted to go get something to eat. I said ok, that was fine and we went out. This normally would have been fine with me.

But then Tabitha…was Tabitha.

I should mention that this morning, Professor X and Hank had informed us that S.H.I.E.L.D. had informed them that they were sure Trask had another factory somewhere. They couldn't get the information out of him, so they asked Professor X to dig through his head. So he had gone, and Hank had gone along with him, leaving us kids in charge of the house.

So I'm pretty sure that this was why Tabitha decided to act like Tabitha.

We were eating in the restaurant when she noticed two guys at an opposite table looking at us. I ignored them, but Tabitha, in all her Tabithaness invited them over. We were in a booth and she came over to sit next to me while two teenage guys who I recognized from school sat opposite us.

"Hi," they both say to Tabby who immediately starts yakking on with them. I didn't listen to anything any of them were saying; instead I preoccupied my mind with thoughts of washboard abs and their Remy. Uh…I mean Remy and his washboard abs.

I was so caught up in these thoughts, that I almost missed it when Tabitha said, "You're looking for a party? What a coincidence! Today is Rogue's birthday and we're throwing her a party tonight!" Tabitha flung her arm around my shoulders at this moment, ignoring my incredulous look.

"WHAT!"

She laughed and patted me on the shoulder. "Yeah, sorry about that Roguey, forgot it was supposed to be a surprise."

I stared at her as she continued on to invite these strange boys and told them to 'bring all of their friends'. WHY does Professor X ever leave us alone? And come on—my birthday isn't until November. If I had a birthday today I would be nineteen and not graduated from high school yet.

But according to Tabitha, it's my birthday, and when she says this, one of the boys offers to buy me a birthday ice cream.

Now…I know this might have been the wrong thing to do…But I said ok.

Don't tell Remy. I'm very ashamed of myself.

When we got back to the house, Tabitha and I pulled into the garage which was already open. I could see Scott inside, looking at the back of his car with his mouth hanging open. And I guess I should mention that he looks none too happy.

For a moment I wonder what he's looking at it. And then it clicks.

Oooh yeah! I forgot all about that stupid bumper sticker! The bumper sticker that Remy and I had made on our first date. '_I'm only speeding because I really have to poop'_.

He _just now_ found it? Wow. He's been driving around with that on his car for a few weeks. As Tabitha pulls into the garage, Scott turns on us as we climb out of the car.

"Who—WHO put this here?" He cries while wildly flinging his hands towards the car.

Tabitha went around to the back of his car to look. When she saw what it said, she snorted loudly and doubled over laughing. Figuring I should probably try to not look guilty, I went around to 'see what it said' and tried not to laugh at the look on Scott's face.

"HOW long have I been driving around with THIS?" He starts freaking out and trying to rip the bumper sticker off. "I do NOT have to poop!" Tabitha howls with laughter and falls onto the hood of another car next to us. I just try very hard not to laugh as I run inside of the house.

Now, this is gonna sound stupid but…I miss Remy. I saw him three hours ago before I left with Tabitha, but…I miss him. Call me cheesy, or corny, or clingy, I don't care. I want my Remy.

Tabitha comes in behind me, still laughing, and claps me on the back.

"Alright, I'm going to start setting up for your party!"

"Uh—Tabby-" I try to argue but she's already gone. I don't know how she's going to work around the Jean and Scott obstacle of having this party. But I'll let her try. Surely they will save me from turning nineteen months too early.

Ok then. Now to Remy!

But just as I'm ascending the stairs, Kurt comes down them in front of me, looking kind of mad.

"Rogue, sister, tell me something," he says, stopping in front of me, "do you think that I'm in love with Kitty?"

"Uh…That's _kind _of what she said…" I say uncertainly.

He starts gaping at me. "Oh, of course that's what she said because she's—she's KITTY!" He yells and then storms off past me back down the stairs.

Um…Okee dokee. I really don't want to know what that was about.

But anyway…Let's get to Remy!

I take two steps before Piotr starts coming down the stairs in front of me.

"Rogue, have you seen Kurt?" he asks, sounding kind of miserable.

"Yeah, he just went thata ways," I point to the direction Kurt left.

"Ok, thank you," Piotr nods and then trudges down the stairs.

Hm. Interesting. But not interesting enough to keep me from Remy. Getting impatient, I go up the stairs two at a time, go down the hall, turn the corner, and there's Remy coming out of my room. His whole face lights up when he sees me and he grins crookedly.

Turning, his holds his arms open. "Jump," he tells me with twinkling eyes.

I don't have to be told twice. I jump into his waiting arms and wrap mine around his neck and my legs around his waist. Hey—maybe he's going to finally kiss me again! But, no, instead, he just hugs me and nuzzles my neck.

"Mmm, chérie, you were gone too long," he says into my hair.

"I'm gone longer when I'm at school," I point out. But I know he's right. That was way too long.

What? It was.

"And it's all I can do not to come to school with you." He says and the image of him walking into class with me goes through my mind.

That would be weird…but kind of fun.

I don't answer. Instead I hug him tighter and breathe in his scent. Today he smells of a mixture between his usual leather and…was that…cinnamon? Whatever it is, it smells good. For some reason he always smells like a different food (or in this case a spice). I suppose it's because he makes me breakfast every morning, but I don't understand what he does to make himself smell like that food all day.

I giggle into his neck when I think that maybe he rubs the food all over his skin. Maybe today he sprinkled cinnamon on his head?

"Why are you laughing?"

I quickly shake my head. "Nothing."

"Tell me."

"Never."

"Never? You're going to pay for that."

"What?" I start to ask before he drops me and then starts tickling my sides.

"Remy-" I begin to protest when I hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

Remy stops—we look at each other, knowing that there's no where for him to go other than my room. But there's no time for that. I almost burst into hysterical laughter when he starts to comically spin around looking for a hiding place—I'm pretty sure he's looking stupid on purpose just to make me laugh. Finally, he stops spinning and dives behind the curtains of a nearby window and pulls them shut.

The second he's out of sight, Kitty and Jean round the corner. The curtains that Remy is behind go down to the floor but I notice with an amount of alarm that I can see his feet. But at least Kitty and Jean have their backs to the window. As _long_ as they don't look back there I'm good.

"Hey, Rogue," Kitty grins, "I just heard it's your birthday."

I glance over at Jean, thinking surely she's going to tell me that there won't be a party. But instead she smiles. "Yeah, and we also heard that there's going to be a party. We're both invited, right?"

Wait…what?

"Huh?" I stare at Jean blankly. This is so out of character for her that I have to wonder if she's high or something.

But she doesn't give me any explanation for this odd behavior; instead she just starts nodding as Kitty starts yammering.

"And since you're the birthday girl," Kitty is saying, "we're going to give you a super make over!"

"Um…No, you're not." I tell them stubbornly. "And it's not my birthday!"

They both laugh at me. Wait…what? Kitty starts going on about hair care products while Jean glances towards the window.

"Hey," she says, "how comes these curtains are closed? It's so pretty outside!"

I watch in horror as Jean starts to head for the window. No, NO, NO! What DO I DO? WHAT DO I DOOOOO?

"JEAN!" I yell just as she's reaching for the curtains.

Kitty stops talking and Jean stops going for the curtains abruptly. Both are looking at me, looking a little worried.

"Uh…what?" Jean asks slowly.

I have no idea what. I just screamed to distract her with no real plan in mind. Good grief, I'm going to look really stupid. Because now I'm going to have to do something very, VERY scary to save my secret from being found out. Something very scary indeed.

"Um—um…Look what I can do!" I say desperately before I start doing the robot.

Yes, the robot. Both girls attention is drawn to me—they're looking VERY worried about my sanity now, and behind them I notice Remy quietly zip out of behind the curtains and into my room—but not before stopping to watch me with a quizzically amused look. As soon as the door closes again, I stop in relief.

Kitty and Jean both have their mouths open in confusion.

"I…I can do the robot." I tell them quietly.

They stare at me for a few more moments before Kitty launches back into her topic of choice, and Jean still looks confused, but goes to open the curtains anyway. Whew. I'm safe. Ok, that was too close. They could have so easily found Remy there, and since he was hiding, there wouldn't be any explanation that we could give them that wouldn't make us look guilty.

But it's ok. We'll be ok as _long _ as they don't go in my room.

"I know," Kitty is saying, "Let's go in Rogue's room and see what she has to wear!"

Dammit! Why did I have to go think that?

"UH—" I say loudly as both girls stare at me, "YOU WANT TO GO IN MY ROOM YOU SAY? Let's not do that," I add in a normal tone, "I don't want a freaking makeover!"

Kitty rolls her eyes and then turns around and both she and Jean skip into my room. I run in behind them to find it empty. Oh thank heaven. Maybe Remy jumped out of the window like a spider monkey again. That would fine by me. Actually, that would be perfect.

I breathe a sigh of relief—perhaps too early. When I close the door, I see that Remy was hiding behind it. He's looking at me with a pair of wide eyes and I'm sure I must be mirroring that reaction. I turn quickly to see that Jean and Kitty both have their backs turned. There's no possible way that Remy could run out of the door and not be seen.

I don't say this, but he obviously thinks so too because he dives behind my curtains.

Whew. Ok, we'll be fine as _long _as no one opens those curtains. I'm certainly not going to and I can't see why Jean or Kitty would feel the need to.

Jeans turns just as he's pulling them closed.

I try not to look guilty as she speaks.

"We don't want to go completely nuts with the makeover," she says, "We just want to do something different."

I'm so nervous I don't hear half of what she's saying. Instead I just nod along and she looks surprised but pleased.

"Ok, let me see your hair—Oh it's so dark in here I can't see anything!" Jean sighs and starts for the window. Kitty doesn't notice any of this as she's got her back turned and is currently going through my closet.

"Jean!" I say quickly and she turns. "I Um—Um…Um…I have to tell you something!" I say wildly and she stares.

"Ok…what is it?"

Behind her, Remy is peeking his head out of behind the curtain and keeping an eye on Kitty, starts creeping out. Wow, he's really quiet. I don't want to know where he got that skill from. Oh, wait, I already do.

"UM..." I can't think of anything to say to Jean except for one thing. "I LOVE your hair. Seriously now, what kind of products do you use in it?"

This is such a strange thing for me to say that Jean stares at me for a moment before answering.

"Nothing much, just a little hairspray…" She gives me a questionable look before turning and ripping the curtains open.

As she spoke, I noticed Remy drop to the floor and roll under my bed.

OK, we're in the clear! Just as _long_ as no one looks under my bed, we're good.

Whew.

"Hey Rogue," Kitty turns away from my closet. "Are these all the shoes you have?" She holds up my converse and I nod. "Well," she says in disgust, "there's got to be something else around here. Is there any under your bed?" Kitty starts towards my bed and I scream.

"NO!"

This startles both girls and they once again stop to stare at me.

"I don't have ANY shoes under there!" I say hysterically. "But I will put on any of your shoes!"

Kitty looks at me as if I've grown a second head. And then, slowly, she starts to look excited. "REALLY?"

"Uh…" I instantly regret that I just said that. "Actually, I-"

Kitty rolls her eyes. "I knew you were lying! Now I'm going to find your shoes!" She walks for my bed again and I do the only thing I know to do.

I drop to my knees and starts grasping at my throat. Then I start making noises that closely resemble a cat coughing up a hairball. Both girls rush over to me and start asking what is wrong. If I had been eating something, this probably wouldn't have been a question that would have been asked. But to them, I had been fine two seconds ago and now I was choking on…the air.

Between the two of them, I glimpse Remy roll out of under my bed. He tilts his head and looks at me for moment before moving towards the window.

"I'll go get you some water!" Kitty says quickly and she starts to turn before I jump at her and grasp her wrist.

Remy stops his progress for the window and runs into the bathroom, it being the closest hiding place. There wasn't any way that he could have jumped out of the window in time to avoid having Kitty see him.

"I'm fine!" I say in my normal voice. At both girl's incredulous stares, I add, "I choked on…on a big bunch of…ah, saliva."

"Well I'm still getting you some water," Kitty says and phases through the hand I have on her.

OK, as _long _ as no one goes in the bathroom we'll be—AH! I need to stop bringing this on myself!

Kitty starts towards the bathroom.

"Kitty, what are you doing?" I ask quickly.

She stops. "I'm getting you some water."

"I thought you were going downstairs for that?" I ask weakly.

"No, this is closer," she shrugs and reaches for the door handle.

I jump to my feet quickly and say loudly, "SO YOU'RE TELLIN' ME THAT YOU'RE GOING IN MY BATHROOM _RIGHT NOW_?"

"Rogue, what is _wrong with you_?" Jean asks, looking very worried, very worried indeed.

"Yes, I'm going in your bathroom…You freak of nature…" Kitty mutters before opening the door and stepping inside.

I race around my bed and stop in the doorway. Ok. The bathroom is clear. Remy must be in the bathtub, behind the shower curtain. Kitty is at the sink, filling a glass (where did she get that?) full of water. She stops and hands it to me and tells me to drink.

I do so obediently. Mostly just to get her out of here as quickly as I can. We're ok; we'll be fine as _long_ as she doesn't look behind the shower curtain.

Dammit.

"Hey," she says when I'm halfway done, "where's your hand soap? I don't see it…" she looks around my sink and then shrugs. "I guess I'll use your bar soap." And she turns to the bathtub.

I choke on my water and it comes spraying out onto the bathroom floor.

"EW!" Kitty jumps away from me. "Why did you do _that_?"

I shake my head quickly. "I don't know, uh—I'll get you the soap!" I blindly reach my hand behind the shower curtain—I feel Remy kiss it before handing me the soap—and I come back out and give it to Kitty.

"You are being so weird today!" Kitty sounds annoyed as she turns to wash her hands.

Whew. Ok, surely we're—yeah, I have to stop doing that.

Finally, I get Kitty out of the bathroom. And finally, I convince both Kitty and Jean to leave my room. They drag me along with them when I say to them that I would try on any of their clothes (they gave me the funniest looks) and finally I was free…Or actually, I'm NOT. Now I have to be their doll as they dress me up and throw make-up on me and—AH!

WHAT have I DONE?

…

**Next Chapter: Is the last chapter. And it's gonna be a humdinger. **


	26. TheChapter Where The Story REALLY Begins

**A/N: Thanks a billion to each and every reviewer for taking the time to read and review. You're the only reason this story exists and I've had SO much fun writing it, so thank you, thank you, and thank you!**

…

Help me. Please.

WHY did I get myself into this mess? What the hell was I thinking? Surely Jean and Kitty finding Remy in my room would have been less torturous than this. Because then, though it would not have been a pleasant situation for me, I would be with Remy right now, and NOT on a chair in front of the bathroom mirror as Jean and Kitty flit excitedly around me.

Oh, excuse me, I meant Jean and Kitty and Amara.

They're all flying around me like a bunch of wild geese—giggling and handing each other make-up and the hairbrush and talking over my head about the latest fashion in Vogel—or Vogue—whatever they called it magazine.

So far all _my_ make-up has been removed by Kitty. And replaced with nothing…yet. And I'm not sure what she's going to replace it with. When I asked Kitty, she just laughed maniacally and wouldn't answer me.

Jean has started work on my hair. I actually like it so far. She's got it so that it's straight down to my chin but past that she's got a nice loose curls look going. This look actually works since my hair has grown down to my shoulders over the past few months.

Amara is working on picking out an outfit out of all her, Kitty's, and Jean's clothes combined. I'm very scared, and they know it. I think they're all just a bunch of lionesses out looking for their prey—and they just happened to find me, stupid and willing.

But at least I got them to let me agree before they did these things to me. Jean showed me a picture of what my hair would look like and I had approved, Amara has been running in with outfits for me to choose and so far I have refused all of them, and Kitty has removed my make-up which I approved of for some reason or the other.

For the past three minutes Kitty has been staring at my face in thought, irritating me with her scrutiny. I would have moved my head in another direction, but everytime I tried to move, Jean scolded me. And I understood why, exactly, the last time I had turned my head abruptly to look at something that Amara was holding up and I had burned my ear on the curling iron.

"Kitty!" I finally snap, "Why the hell do you keep starin at me?"

"Rogue, don't swear," she says absently as she continues to study my face. "I was trying to figure out what would look best on you and I think I have come to my decision."

"Please do," I mutter and she glares at me.

"You shouldn't wear that crap that you do wear, and I'm not going to put anything on you," she says with her hands on her hips. "Your face is too pretty for make-up, it hides all the good stuff."

"The good stuff?" I ask as I feel a flush creeping across my cheeks.

Kitty nods and picks up some mascara. "Yeah, like, your eyes are really big and bright, but the stuff you wear hides that. Here," she gets on her knees in front of me and starts applying the mascara. I feel like a doll that everyone is dressing up. Oh wait, I am.

"What about this, Rogue?" Amara asks excitedly as she skips into the room and shows me…um…my purple shirt and…my blue jeans.

I stare at her for a moment—surely—surely this is too good to be true.

"YES!" I say loudly and the mascara in Kitty's hand smears across my eyelid.

Scowling, she reaches up to clean it with a tissue as she glances at Amara.

"What is that?" Kitty asks, "She can't wear that, she wears it all the time!"

"I think it looks nice on her," Amara counters and sends me a wink.

Hm…Interesting. I have a feeling there is something more to this.

"Well sure it does," Jean says distractedly as she is concentrating more on my hair, "but we wanted something different."

Kitty suddenly stops rubbing the mascara off of my eye and turns to Amara suspiciously. "How much did he pay you?" She asks, standing up.

Amara chews on her lip nervously for a second. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kitty narrows her eyes. "I'll double it. Whatever he paid you I'll double it."

They stare at each other for a long moment before Amara shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm serious about this though," she holds up my clothes. "Don't you think pairing this with her new look would be a fashion _do_? I think it would look awesome!"

Well, she certainly knows how to lay it on thick. And I'm thinking Remy had paid her to come in here and do this…and also that he knows how to save me. Let's just hope it works. Kitty looks the outfit over and then at me, and then back at the outfit. She looks like she's thinking it over, and I mentally try to _will her_ to say ok.

Hey, it could happen.

Ok, it couldn't happen, but I can try anyway to make myself feel useful.

The bathroom door opens at that moment to admit a sullen Scott. I wonder vaguely why he didn't knock before he sits down on the counter and looks at us grumpily.

"What's a matter Scott?" I ask, though I'm sure I know whats wrong with him. All this week no one has forgotten his suggestive (yet impressive) dancing, and no one has let him forget it either. Even Jean can't help cracking a smile when she remembers it.

I notice Kitty and Amara start whispering to one another, then when Kitty sees that I'm watching she shoves Amara out into the hall and closes the door. I REALLY don't want to know what they're talking about.

Over on the counter, Scott turns to look at me with a grumpy look on his face. But when he sees the horrors that the girls have done to me, his expression lightens. "Hey Rogue, you're looking nice."

No I don't. I look stupid. Except for the hair, I kind of like it. But I wouldn't ever tell any of my friends that. They would probably decide that I was going to be their doll everyday. I shudder at that thought. They really would do it too, I have no doubt in my mind that they would.

I hope Amara wins the argument she's having with Kitty. I might be able to handle the no make-up and weird hair but I couldn't stand not being comfortable in my own clothes. And Remy had known that. At least, this is what I'm assuming, going by Amara's wink in my direction and Kitty's 'How much did he pay you?'.

Isn't he sweet?

Ugh, I need to stop having gushy thoughts like that. I sound like a corn monster. Remy has no idea that I have thoughts like that. No, this past week I've _mostly_ been my normal self with him, only more tolerant. I haven't been all that nice to him, really. I actually tried one day, but then Remy had said something gross just to deliberately piss me off.

And it seems like the meaner I am to him, the more he likes me. Don't ask me why, I think he's just a sick freak.

But he's _my_ sick freak.

Ah! Go away mushy thoughts! Who'd have thought you could turn sick freak into an endearment?

I wonder what Remy is doing right now…Is he thinking about me like I am about him? Is he wondering what I'm thinking about at this VERY moment? That would be weird. Or maybe he's just off being his normal rubber monster—I mean corn donkey—I mean…I forget the names…They'll come back in a minute.

Maybe he's just off doing…Remy things. Don't ask me what Remy things are, I don't know…I suppose Remy things would entail activities like plotting, scheming, being Cajun, having washboard abs, and being an evil mastermind.

Ok, time to stop thinking about Remy.

Remy…Remy…Remy….Remy…Remy…Remy…He has a nice name, I never realized it before.

Ah! No more Remy.

Now_ that_ was a dreary thought.

What I meant was: no more thinking about Remy. Or washboard abs.

Rubber donkey and corn monster! That was the names!

…If this is confusing you, I know exactly how you feel. I'm just as scrambled up in my thoughts right now as you are. I don't even remember what I started thinking about in the first place, but somehow it ended up with Remy and washboard abs and rubber donkeys.

Was it…something about…Um…I don't know.

"Done with your hair!" Jean says proudly and holds up a mirror for me to see.

Ooo! I like it. I look creepy. And when I say creepy, I mean it's creepy because it's different.

Amara and Kitty! That's what I was thinking about!

Oh, sorry, I did it again…

But Amara and Kitty were out in the hall arguing over what I am going to wear. But maybe I can escape while it's just Jean…She's standing next to me very closely, so trustingly…I could easily reach out and drain her…

Oh my…That was just _wrong_.

I've been hanging around Remy too much. He's rubbed off on me. That isn't good. Especially when I'm considering hurting my friends to get out of something that I agreed to go through in the first place. And…Dammit! Remy is back in my head again!

That man is persistent!

Wait…that didn't make any sense…

"Thanks Jean," I smile and start to stand up. "I'm gonna go see what Kitty and Amara are doing-"

But just as the words come out of my mouth, the two girls and for some reason, Bobby, walk into the bathroom. I stand and watch them wearily. Amara is still holding my clothes, but I don't know if they're going to let me wear them or force me into something else.

Amazingly, Amara tosses the clothes over to me.

"Your boyfriend got you out of having to dress up," Kitty says, sounding half like she approved of this action and halfway annoyed.

"Of course he did," Scott said, grinning.

"Rogue's got a boyfriend," Bobby says teasingly in a sing-song voice.

I feel my face coloring at this. Though I should have expected these reactions, I've been trying to prepare myself for them for the past week. I knew that the teasing was bound to happen, but that doesn't make it any easier to handle.

"I don't have a boyfriend," I say, though I know the color of my face is giving me away.

"And I can't walk through walls!" Kitty scoffs.

"Come on Rogue, there's nothing to be ashamed about," Jean says gently, but I see the smile playing on her lips.

"I'm not kidding—I don't have a boyfriend!" I say…maybe a little too loudly. "If none of you want to believe the truth, then that's your own faults."

Bobby looks confused. "I'm sorry Rogue, but I didn't understand a _thing_ you just said." I stare at him blankly as he continues with a grin. "Probably because you're speaking the language of _looooove_!"

If I was red before, I don't know what color I am now. All I know is that my face is hotter than the six shades of hell. Everyone starts giggling at Bobby's words and I know that they're just getting started. I need to get out of here…But dammit! Kitty, Bobby, and Amara are all blocking the door.

"Shut-up!" I snap. "I am not! Remy and I are just team mates. We're hardly even friends."

They all start making kissing noises and laughing like a pack of hyenas.

Amara giggles. "I'm sorry, but all I heard you say was, 'love, love, love, love, love!'"

Kitty is also giggling. "Oh Rogue, I can just see it now! You and Remy-"

And I didn't hear anything else after that. All I heard was 'Remy' and a tingle of…something shot down my spine at the mention of his name. Good lord, all I have to do is hear his name and I get excited. I get all warm inside and my heart jumps…

Holy freakin cow.

I love Remy.

…I…I love Remy. I really must. It's…There's…there's no doubt about it. I. Love. Remy.

Everything that's happened, everything that I've felt is so very clear now. I felt it all because I love him. Wait…when did this happen? WHY didn't anyone TELL ME? Of all the times I have talked about my heart going wild and my knees going weak and I never thought of the most obvious answer before now?

And…and…Remy loves me.

He hasn't said it since he said it the first time, but he DID say it so it must be true.

But…what if he doesn't anymore? WHAT if it's JUST LIKE in Gone With the Wind? Oh my gosh…you don't know what I'm talking about. But in Gone With the Wind, Rhett loved Scarlett for years and years but just when he fell out of love with her, she fell in love with him and the whole thing turned to crap.

What if that happens with me and Remy? WHAT if he doesn't love me anymore? But…no…surely he didn't fall out of love in a week. I'm just getting myself worked up. It's been the best week in the history of all weeks (I'm sure of it) and I can't imagine that sometime in the midst of that happiness he would decide that he didn't love me anymore.

Wow, that thought is so sad. He BETTER still love me. If he doesn't, I am going to punch him in the face SO hard…

AW, but how could I hit him? I love his face. Just the thought of someone (even me) hurting him makes my stomach clench.

Seriously, the mushy stuff has got to stop now.

And even more seriously, I have to find Remy.

"Rogue, what's wrong?" Jean's hand is on my shoulder.

"She's going space cadet again." Kitty says, rolling her eyes.

"I…I, I have to go," I say in a subdued sort of voice. I hardly hear what they're saying; my mind is on where Remy must be. I have to find him; I have to tell him before he falls out of love with me.

What a stupid thought.

I'm stupid. Remy is not going to just flip-flop on his feelings like that.

But…What if he does?

Everyone in the bathroom gives me the same concerned look as I push past them to get out of the bathroom. I walk quickly down the hall to my room. Please let him still be there, please let him still be there!

Finally reaching my room, I open the door and run in. Remy isn't here. I throw the clothes in my arms on my bed as I pass it to check the bathroom. He's not in there either.

Ok, I'm not going to freak out. I'm acting stupid, I know, but you should be used to this by now. Come to think of it, so should I. I know I'm being stupid as I'm being stupid, so why do I keep acting stupid? I know when the stupidity is coming, yet I welcome it with open arms and run away with it.

Speaking of running, I sprint out of my room and across the landing to Remy's door. I knock three times before opening it and finding…nothing. He's not in his bathroom either. Ok, think. Think…where else would Remy be? The kitchen! Maybe he's getting something to eat!

I sprint out of Remy's room and down the stairs—to find that the foyer has been transformed.

I stop dead in my tracks as I take in the Pepto-Bismol pink decorations on _everything_. I stare in horror at the pink balloons to the pink frills to the pink flowers to the huge, pink banner saying happy sweet sixteen.

Wait…sweet sixteen?

"TABITHA!" I thunder and Tabitha flounces into view, carrying in a few packs of pink plastic cups.

"Hey birthday girl!" She says cheerfully as she continues over to a table covered in a pink tablecloth. "Like your decorations?" She asks and looks appreciatively around the hall.

"I _hate_ them." I tell her in a voice filed with venom. "Since when do you think I like pink, and since when AM I SIXTEEN?"

"Stop yelling, you'll pop the balloons," she says as she starts to arrange the cups around a punch bowl filled with pink punch.

"Tabitha! Take these down! It is NOT my birthday, and I am NOT sixteen!" I yell at her and clench my fists at my sides.

"Rogue," she says and finally turns to me. She stops when she takes in my appearance. "Hey, lookin' good! Remy's gonna want to eat you when he catches a glimpse of this."

I blush despite my anger. Maybe Remy's right. Maybe everyone does know about us. Maybe I love Remy. No, it's a fact, I love Remy.

Crap, my mind drifted…What was I supposed to be thinking about?

"Shut-up!" I yell at Tabitha who just grins.

"Oh come on girl!"

"No YOU come on!" I yell. "Take this crap down now and uninvite those boys!"

As soon as the words tumble out of my mouth, the doorbell rings and Tabitha, grinning evilly, runs to answer it. I watch in horror as about fifty people, most of whom I barely recognize, pour in through the door. Tabitha enthusiastically greets them before running over to the stereo.

"Tabitha!" I run down the stairs in a last attempt to stop this madness. "This is ridiculous! What if the Professor comes home? What if something breaks? What if-"

But Tabitha completely ignores me in favor of turning on the stereo sky high and dancing away. I'm left standing there as Quad City DJ's blast into my ear, singing about a train...I like this song.

But that's not important right now!

The important thing is—there's Remy!

I never doubted that I love him, but if I had, I would have been proved wrong the moment I saw him. It was like the sun burst out in the midst of dark clouds and completely brightened up the room. How no one else notices this, I don't know, but he's all I see.

How could no one else see him like I do? How could I have ever told him that I didn't want him? How did I manage to reject him or put him down? I have no idea. I don't even remember why I said no in the first place. I feel like I was just being silly and stupid.

He must have heard the train song because he's coming out of the direction of the kitchen, followed by Kurt and Piotr. Piotr is looking stressed and Kurt is looking mad. Remy is searching the hall and finally he's eyes lock on mine and my heart leaps.

Yes, it's VERY mushy gushy right now.

I really need to control myself.

But as Remy starts towards me, I completely forget about this stupid party, and the butt-ugly decorations, and the fact that I feel weird with my hair and make-up different. None of that matters at the moment; all that matters is that I tell him how I feel. Because surely if I don't tell him, I'll explode with the feeling. I have to get it out, and now.

He reaches me and I ignore Kurt's raised eyebrow in our direction as I move forward to hug him.

Remy's looks a bit surprised by this, but hugs me back anyway.

"You missed me that much?" he asks teasingly in my ear. "We were only apart for an hour."

Wait…Isn't this the guy who told me to jump on him because I was gone for three hours? What a hypocrite...But I guess I have no room to talk. I'm a bigger hypocrite than he is. I pull back and look at him seriously. "Remy, I have to tell you something," I say quietly.

I would just tell him right now, but it doesn't really seem like quite the place with Quad City DJ's blasting in our ears, Kurt quirking his eyebrow at us, Tabitha staring, and the fifty or so strange people jumping around everywhere. Not to mention the gross decorations.

Remy looks a little worried but nods. "Ok…But right now? It looks like you're busy right now."

I shake my head quickly. "No, I want to tell you now."

A look flashes across his face—almost like fear but I've never seen Remy look honestly scared before so I can't be totally sure what it is.

"I think we should wait until this is over." He tilts his head in the direction of the party. "By the way, you look exquisite."

"Yeah, whatever," I wave the compliment off in a hurry. "But I have to tell you right now, it's important. Let's go outside."

"How about you tell me when I give you my present?" he purrs as he leans closer.

"A present? Why did you get me a present?" I ask, aware that Kitty, Jean, Scott, Amara, and Bobby are coming down the stairs and watching us.

But I don't really care right now. That problem seems miniscule next to the one I'm currently encountering. This is very weird. I have NEVER known Remy to pass up an opportunity to get me alone. And why does he look worried?

He fingers my earlobe with his thumb as he says quietly, "It's your birthday. I thought you should have something _very_ special."

Ok, now _I'm_ worried. Not only because he won't let me tell him, but because…

"Remy, I don't want to have sex!" I blurt out just as Coconut Head and Lumberjack Lady are passing us.

Wait…Coconut Head and Lumberjack Lady?

"Hey Rogue! Happy birthday!" Coconut Head says enthusiastically.

I look over at him, VERY confused. WHY is Coconut Head here?

_Tabitha_. Damn her!

"Guess what?" Coconut Head says excitedly before both he and Lumberjack Lady hold up their left hands to present identical gold rings.

"We got married!" Lumberjack Lady squeals before she looks lovingly over at Coconut Head.

Coconut Head meets her gaze and then two seconds later, they're all over each other, their mouths going a mile a minute, their hands clinging on to one another for dear life.

Remy and I just watch in a confused sort of daze.

"Oh gross," I mutter out of the corner of my mouth to him. "It looks like he's eating her face."

"And it looks like she's enjoyin' it too," Remy says, sounding amused.

They go for another minute like this before they stumble backwards into the wall where their make-out session turns into something more that I don't feel comfortable watching.

"So…" Remy says after a quiet moment, "You said somethin about sex?"

I feel myself flush at this, remembering my hasty words. "Yes," I mutter, "I don't want…I just…I'm not ready…"

He nods with a smirk on his face. "Ok, that's fine, but that's not what I was thinking of giving you. Unless, of course, you insist…"

"Shut-up...And it's not my birthday so you don't have to give me anything."

"Actually, it's your," he looks back up at the banner and looks back at me with a grin, "sweet sixteen. I guess this makes me a pedophile."

I roll my eyes as he chuckles.

"Oh, and can we please talk about _the robot_?" he asks.

For a moment I don't get what he's saying. Then I remember my stupid distraction tactics with Kitty and Jean.

"NO." I glare at him and he grins.

"Rogue, you did the robot."

"I know I did the damn robot!" I snap, flushing at the memory.

Just as these words come out of my mouth, Kitty bounces over and sticks her head in-between ours.

"Hi love birds!" she says in a disgusting voice dripping with honey.

I really want to drain her.

I mean…Uh…Ok, yeah, I want to drain her.

"What do you want?" I ask rudely.

"Rogue, be nice!" She pouts.

"Kitty, get lost," I counter, becoming more and more annoyed that I can't get Remy alone. This is the first time that _that_ has ever happened. Why won't Remy just come outside with me? Why does he look worried? Does he think I'm going to tell him something that he doesn't want to hear?

But…what if he doesn't want to hear what I have to tell him?

"Jeez! What crawled up your butt and died?" Kitty snaps at me.

Remy coughs suddenly, hiding a grin behind his hand.

Grrr…

"Ok, Kitty," I say sweetly, "what is it that you need?"

"Um…" Kitty suddenly looks like she's at a loss for words. Ha! Just what I thought. She just came over here to spy on us! "I wanted to see if uh-"

She was cut off by Kurt who chooses this moment to come up on our other side. Remy and I are still facing each other, but Kitty is between us on my right and Kurt on the left. I observe with some curiosity that Kitty's cheeks have gone pink, but Kurt is still looking mad. It's weird; it's so rare to see Kurt mad.

"Kitty," Kurt says as his eyes bore into her like knives. "Are you done avoiding me now?"

"Uh—" Kitty says nervously as she looks from me to Remy. "I wasn't avoiding you, and I can't speak right now—Rogue and I were um-"

"Finished!" I say with an evil grin on my face. This is fun. "I'm done with her; you can have her now, Kurt."

Kurt suddenly jerks his gaze in my direction. "Is that what you think? You think I really want-"

"Kurt, shut-up!" Kitty snaps just as I perk up.

"What?" I ask excitedly, "What is it? Let it all out, Kurt," I pat his arm consolingly.

Remy is shaking his head at me, but looking entertained anyway. Kitty looks like she wants to run away, I'm trying not to look like I'm enjoying this at all, and Kurt looks about ready to explode. Huh. Weird.

"Well you see, Rogue," Kurt says to me, "Kitty was _apparently_ under the delusion that I was chasing her-"

"You were!" Kitty snaps, suddenly looking mad too.

Kurt jerks his attention back to her. "We made out ONCE—" he nearly yells and ignores my burst of 'WHAT!' and continues, "that does not mean that I am in love with you!"

"We only stopped making out because Tabitha caught us! And—and you said pick me!" Kitty yells back, her hands gripping her hips.

Kurt gives her an incredulous look. "I said that when you were picking a partner for that stupid project at school! That does NOT mean pick me!"

"Um…" I say in-between them, "Actually it does if you look at it a certain way…and Kitty, why did you tell me that Kurt was chasing you?"

Kitty shrugged at me but kept her glare on Kurt. "Oh, I don't know. You had Remy pursuing you and it all looked so exciting. I just wanted to be interesting."

Kurt gaped at her and then said something—er—very _not nice_.

And that's when they start yelling at each other. Piotr (poor thing) makes his appearance at this moment, looking at the two squabbling and shaking his head. Remy is shaking with laughter while I'm trying to discern exactly what is being said.

"YOU ARE SO! SO! SO!" Kitty yells, her face getting redder and redder.

"Kitty," Piotr says gently and reaches down to take hold of her elbow.

In a classic Jerry Springer-like moment, Kitty whirls without any warning and slaps Piotr across the face. Though music is still blasting, everyone nearby turns and we all stare with our mouths open at this. Poor Piotr—he doesn't look hurt he just looks shocked…and kind of angry.

Kitty covers her mouth with both hands, he eyes wide. "Oh…Piotr—I'm sorry, I didn't think."

It goes to Piotr's credit with me that he didn't just slap her right back, strangle her, scream at her, or even give her a dirty look. He drops her arm, straightens up, and says calmly, "Why?" Before turning and walking off.

Well there's a million dollar question. I can't figure 'why' about any of this. Why Kitty said that Kurt was chasing her, why she slapped Piotr, why Piotr asked a question and then walked off before he got the answer, and why I am really enjoying myself. What? Maybe it's messed up, but this is almost as good as a soap opera…

Oh NO!

NOOO! We forgot all about Days of Our Lives! Oh come ON! It was JUST getting good! Ok…NOW I'm upset.

Crud crackers.

Kitty watches Piotr walking off with a sad look on her face. "Piotr!" she suddenly screams as she chases after him. "Don't run away, I love you!"

I stare after them as Kurt rolls his eyes and walks off in the opposite direction. Remy and I are quiet for a few moments before he asks, "What just happened?"

I shake my head. "I have no idea…but I'm gonna go see if Kurt is ok," I tell him before going off towards were Kurt is standing at the refreshments table snickering. Wait…snickering?

"Uh…are you ok?" I ask him just as he starts reaching for the chips.

He shrugs. "Yeah, I'm fine." Then he turns and sees the concerned look on my face and laughs. "Don't worry; I was just messing with her. I really did chase her for like ten minutes before I got bored. I'm mad at her, but not about that."

I stare at him for a long moment, trying to figure out when and why Kurt had become so _evil_. "Uh…what are you mad at her for?"

"She borrowed my favorite pencil and never gave it back," he said in a voice that promised vengeance. "Oh, and also, she found out that I was playing both sides of the bet and told everyone."

Hm, going by the fact that no one has completely flipped out, I guess they haven't noticed what Remy did yet.

And what did Remy do, you ask?

He told me last night (with a very satisfied smirk on his face) that no one would be getting any cash that they had put into the bet. After I had stared at him for a moment, he had proceeded to explain to me that Kitty had hid the money in a bad hiding place (in the back of her closet) and that it had been very easy to slip in and take.

When I stared at him in horror, he told me not to worry about it, that he had done it over a week ago and no one had noticed yet.

Then when I asked him what he did with the money, he told me that he had bought me Gone With the Wind, four bouquets of sunflowers, and then got gas in his bike and paid his phone bill.

…Anyway…

And back to the subject, Kurt was mad over a stupid pencil? Poor Piotr got slapped in the face over a pencil? Kitty borrowed Kurt's pencil and never gave it back? What kind of person does that? I mean, how could you borrow something that someone was nice enough to lend you and then never give it back? And also, why am I thinking about this? How did my mind drift from, 'I've got to tell Remy that I love him', to 'pencil, pencil, pencil, Kurt, Piotr's face, pencil.'?

Oh! That reminds me—I had a dream last night about pencils…Something about coconuts and rattle snakes and the Mona Lisa…I don't know. And washboard abs were there, of course, they're always there so it wasn't any big deal…

And now my mind has gone from Remy to Kitty, Kurt, and Piotr to pencils to dreams to coconuts to rattle snakes to the Mona Lisa and then to washboard abs…And now I'm thinking of toasters for some reason.

Poppity Poptarts! I forgot Remy. I have to tell him that I…what was it? Oh yeah, that I love him.

…I guess it doesn't reflect well on me that I temporarily forgot that, does it?

But I love Remy and I have to tell him…And he's gone. Great, he's run off to go do Remy things and I'm never going to be able to tell him. He's probably off right now, forgetting all about me and falling straight out of love—

"Rogue," a voice says into my ear and I scream and jump a foot in the air.

I turn to find Remy (damn him!) grinning at me.

"Ok, how did you do that?" I ask.

"Do what? I walked over here."

"You disappeared!" I wave a hand over to where he was standing just five minutes ago.

He shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I can feel Kurt watching us with some interest as he hogs a plate of chips down. I cast a sideways glance at him before responding to Remy.

"Ok, whatever, I still need to talk to you."

There was that worried look again. I don't like it—it makes me want to give him a hug. He must think that I have something bad to tell him, though I can't figure why. Oh, wait…But of course, he must be doing the same thing I have been doing for the past hour. Jumping to conclusions.

"It's not a bad thing," I tell him quickly, "It's a good thing."

He looks at me curiously. "Really? Well, in that case," he takes my hand and leads me outside.

I turn red when I catch a glimpse of Tabitha right before we walk through the front door, nodding appreciatively at us and making an obscene gesture. I glare at her and make an even more obscene gesture with my middle finger in her direction—to which she just laughs at.

As we walk out, people keep wishing me happy birthday, then when I tell them that it's not my birthday, they either look confused or argue with me, as if I don't know when my own birthday is.

Whatever.

According to the news, spring is just right around the corner, but you couldn't tell that by just walking outside. The air is still cold and biting and I shiver when we step out into it, prompting Remy to put a warm arm around me and draw me close.

We're silent for a few moments as we make a path down past the side of the house, the blaring music from the house dying away with every step we take away from it.

"So..." Remy says as we slow our pace.

Ok, here goes…I can do it…I can…Oh my lord I can't do it. NO! I can. It's not hard. It's not hard at all. I can say love, and I can definitely say it to Remy.

"Remy," I say quietly and we finally stop walking as he turns to me.

"Yes, Rogue?"

"Um…" I bite my lip, "I was thinkin earlier-"

"Wait a second," he says and takes hold of my hand. "I just wanna say somethin first."

"But-"

"No, let me." If he wanted me to soak in anything that he was planning to say he should take a few steps back. He's much too close to me now—I can feel warmth radiating from his body, hear his breathing and smell his Remy scent. I find it odd that his breathing seems a tad irregular…surely that short walk we just took didn't do that.

He's looking down at me, his expression somewhere between concern and nervousness.

"I love you," he says and my heart leaps. "I love you, a lot…I don't know if that scares you—honestly I don't think I'd blame you, because it scares me."

Remy was scared? Why would he be scared of love? Oh, wait, I did that too. I guess Remy and I are more alike than I thought. He must think that I _am_ scared because he slides an arm around my middle and pulls me to him. Great, now I'm not going to be able to hear him—not with the way my pulse is pounding in my ears.

"And I want you to know," he says in low voice, "Even if you don't love me back, I won't be able to stop. You're my chérie and I'll love you forever."

Ok, I can't let him say something like that and not tell him.

"Remy-"

"Wait," he puts a hand in his pocket and pulls out Trask's inhibitor. "I tweaked this," he holds it up for me to see while he watches my expression. "It's going to last for a long time now, if you'll have me, that is."

How could he think that I wouldn't…Oh yeah.

I have to tell him now—"Remy,"

"It'll last for twenty years."

The words die on my lips as he makes this statement. Twenty years? That is a hell of long time. It's certainly a lot longer than five years. And that's a big commitment—telling someone that you'll be with them for twenty years. Remy seems—not confident as I would like to say—but nervous as he makes this announcement.

And why—Oh my God.

Did he say twenty years? Twenty years. TWENTY YEARS. Twenty freaking years. Remy loves me and wants to be with me for twenty years? Why is this just now hitting me? This is a lot to soak in. I'm not supposed to be able to touch Remy at all, and he's found a way to make me able to be with him for _twenty years_.

Whoa.

"Are…Are…are you serious?" I manage to stutter.

He nods, "Oh, actually, its twenty three years," he says as he carefully watches my face. I guess I should say something before he thinks that I'm going to turn him down. How could I pass up twenty three years to be with my Remy?

"Remy," I look up at him and I've never been so sure of what I'm about to say. Who'd have thought it was so hard to tell someone that you love them? I've faced Magneto, every mutant hater at school, explosions, the Brotherhood, men with machine guns, and giant robots trying to kill me, but nothing is as scary as this.

This is a different kind of fear—it's not the kind of fear you get when you're in the middle of a battle and you think 'I hope my arm doesn't get blown off', because you know all the dangers and possibilities that go with that kind of thing. But this is a fear of jumping into the unknown—a fear of losing something that I so desperately don't want to lose.

But I'll be damned if I ever lose Remy, and I'll be damned if it's because I can't say love.

I grip the front of Remy's coat and pull him down towards me. "I love you, Remy."

Now it's his turn to look like he's been smacked. He stares disbelievingly at me for a long, quiet moment. I'm shivering—and I know it has nothing to do with the cold weather.

Finally, he blinks. "You do?"

Well, I guess it's better than 'no you don't!'

I nod quickly. "I do—I love you—that's what I was tryin to tell you while you were lollygagging around inside."

"Lollygagging?" he asks blankly.

Oh come ON, is that all he heard?

I press myself up against him and place both of my hands on his neck. Being this close I can feel his wild heartbeat up against me. Huh…do I have the same affect on him that he does on me? How interesting.

"Yes, stupid. I love you," I tell him, "Now kiss me, Cajun."

He looks at me for about two seconds before he slowly grins. "You've got it, chérie."

And he kisses me—quite fiercely.

I can't get close enough to him. I wrap my arms completely around his neck and kiss him as hard as I can—he's got one hand behind my head and the other still wrapped around my middle, pulling me closer. I can't breathe and I don't care. If I can suffocate from kissing Remy then that would be the perfect way to go.

Wow, that was dramatic.

I can't help but notice that Remy is trembling, all over. Or maybe that's me—I'm doing quite a lot of that myself. Mountains are crumbling, ocean waves are rolling dangerously, sparks are flying everywhere, and we're both on fire. All those stupid things you read about what people feel when they fall in love—wouldn't you know it, they were all true.

Except mountains crumbling and sparks flying are nothing compared to way Remy kisses. It was nothing compared this—this elation, this helplessly happy feeling that assures you that everyday from on is going to be bright, even if this moment is all you get. Because if I never get to kiss Remy again, I can always live on this moment, on this feeling.

Except that a future without my Remy is just not a future worth having.

The rest of the world does not exist—all that exists in this moment is me and Remy and nothing—

"Oh my God, you GUYS!"

I couldn't have stopped if the moon had fallen down and hit me. But to my disappointment, Remy pulls back. It takes me a moment to get back to earth, to get my mind straight again to see what made Remy stop. I look over to see Kitty and Piotr standing there next to the azalea bushes.

Piotr is beet red and looking very embarrassed. Kitty, however, has got her fists clenched in excitement in front of her and is bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Oh, son of a BITCH!

"EEEE! This is SO exciting!" Kitty squeals, "Now we can double date! Me and Piotr and Rogue and Remy! Yes, Piotr and I have made up. I know, exciting, right? But anyway—Yay! I knew it! I knew it all along! You're welcome," she winks at me, "you can call me cupid Kitty from now on if you like. Wait…How are you two kissing? Oh, never mind—let's just remember that I am GOOD. Oh! Let's all go the mall! Or bowling! Or dancing! YES, let's go dancing! Hey, where are you going?"

She was calling after us, but Remy and I had already started a mad dash back towards the house.

…

Somehow we are able to sneak through what is becoming an alarmingly wild crowd—amid happy birthday wishes and Tabitha's knowing look. We got all the way up to my bedroom where Remy slams the door and locks it before turning to me.

We stand in silence and stare each other down for a few moments.

"I love you too," he says finally before leaning down and kissing me on the cheek.

"None of that," I put my arms around his neck and pull him closer. "Kiss me the right way."

He smirks, and placing his hands on my back, he leans down and teasingly brushes his lips against mine. It's not even a kiss—it was just a movement but it drives me crazy anyway. Not just because it was, well, Remy lips—but because he still isn't kissing me.

"Like this?" he whispers with that smirk in place.

Oh he knows he's driving me crazy now. I really want to kiss him…or pinch him…It's a very odd combination.

"Rogue," he says quietly, "Since you love me now, where do we stand with the whole—twenty years thing?"

I'm trembling again. I bite my lip before I answer—I have to be careful with everything I say right now, right? I don't want to say the wrong thing. What if Remy…Wait a second…I'm stupid. Of course Remy _wants me_ for that long; he's the one that made it possible.

"I still love you," I say, and my voice suddenly sounds very small and quiet and not mine at all, "and I'm positive that I'll still love you in twenty years."

"So…it's a yes?"

"It's a hell yes, if you don't mind my company."

Yay, Remy grin is back! It lights up his whole face—I've never seen him happier. Everything about him is radiating happy and it's highly contagious. I'm a corn monster, aren't I? He kisses me right this time, but gently—unlike all the other kisses he's given me. Either this is better or it's equally earth shattering, but all the same I start to drown in him before he abruptly pulls back.

To my disappointment, he pulls away from me, still with his crooked grin in place. He walks the short distance to my bed and flops down on his back.

"Ok Rogue," he says seriously, "You can have your way with me now."

Oh sweet mother. My face burns as I try to glare at him. "Remy, I said I didn't want-"

"I know what you said, chère," he says reassuringly, "just have _your _ way. Whatever that way may be."

This does nothing to get rid of my blush. The only thing that I really want to have my—er—way with is the washboard abs.

I can't believe I just said that.

I go over and sit awkwardly on the edge of the bed, trying not to touch him. "Hey," I say suddenly as for some reason, an earlier thought pops into my mind. "Is that why you wanted me? Because you love me?"

He nods slowly as he pulls my hand over to him and places it right on his stomach. Oh my word.

"I've loved you for a long time now," he says matter-of-factly, "Ever since that day that we kissed at Trask's factory. Remember?"

How could I forget? "That long?"

"Mhmm," he nods as he starts splaying my fingers out across his stomach. And—Oh for craps sake—I can feel them. I can feel the washboard abs. Wow, they're hard. OOO washboard abs! But wait, no, I can't let the washboard abs take over my mind. There was something else I wanted to ask Remy…

Oh yeah.

"Answer me a question," I say quickly, trying not to feel the abs under my fingers, "I'm wondering…Why didn't you just say that in the first place? Why did you come along and act really annoying for weeks before you started acting nice to me? Why didn't you just tell me you loved me when you fell in love?"

He gives me disbelieving look. "Are you serious? If I had told you I loved you then, you would have skinned me alive."

Yeah, I guess he's right. Stupid question.

"As for the other questions," he says, "Not only was annoyin' you the most fun I've ever had, but if I had come along and acted gentlemanly that wouldn't have been very honest would it? It would have put you under the delusion that I'm a decent guy, and you and I both know better." With a wink, he lifts my hand and kisses it.

"And my beautiful Rogue, surely you know that it's one thing to be rejected when you're just flirting, but it's a whole other thing to be rejected when you pour your heart out."

I feel stupid now. And loved. That, also, is a weird combination.

He pulls me to him, and I go reluctantly—but all he does is let me lay next to him while he holds me close.

"I can't quite explain to you in proper words the place you hold in my heart." he says quietly while he stares me down, "But don't ever doubt that you're always there. I couldn't get you out even if I wanted to try."

Oh, there goes my heart again, melting away. What exactly do you say back to _that_? What can I possibly say that won't sound halfhearted or weak after _that_?

"I love you, Remy," is all I've got.

But judging by the look on Remy's face, it's enough. He grins broadly as he rolls us over so that I'm on top of him.

"Ok, you can have your way with me now." He smirks as I glare at him. "And Rogue," he says teasingly, "Be gentle with me."


	27. The Chapter With The Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Three years later.

Yes, that's right, I said three years later. Yep, three years. I'm twenty one. The big two one. Twenty plus one. One plus twenty. Yeppers. I'm bored. Well, as bored as one can be when you're cleaning. I'm currently cleaning the tiny apartment that Remy and I share. Yes, we live together. We live together in complete and utter bliss.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that we're married. That's right. I know, shocking. We got married right after I graduated from high school. At first, everyone thought I was knocked up. Ha. But then when they realized that I wasn't, I got a lot of apologies.

Anyway, back to the _important_ subject—I'm bored.

Bored because I hate cleaning and even more bored because Remy isn't here. He went to New Orleans a week ago—something about his dad. I wasn't really listening when he told me because I had Kitty on the phone at the moment, yakking on about babies, and the TV was on and very loud, and someone was knocking on the door. I'm pretty sure it was something about him falling and breaking…some bone. I don't know.

But Remy had run out before I could even give him a proper good bye. I hadn't even gotten a call from him since, something that I was going to give him hell about when he got back home.

But I'm rambling. I should catch you up on what has happened in three years time.

Three years ago Professor X went to dig through Bolivar Trask's mind to see if he had built another factory. He had. Remy, being Remy, raided the place when we went to shut it down and came out with pockets full of more power inhibitors. We have a LOT of secured years in front of us.

After that, Remy put one of the smaller inhibitors on a chain (trust me, it made a hideous but necessary necklace) so that I could wear it all the time and be safe with everyone.

I'm happy. Very, VERY happy. We're both deliriously happy and have been since we became an official couple. I actually think we make people sick with our displays.

But we're no where near as bad as Kitty and Piotr. Or really, Kitty. Piotr is a very introverted person and Kitty is very extroverted. But this does nothing to deter Kitty from skipping into a room full of people and sitting in his lap and telling him how sexy he is.

Though I have to admit, it is fun to watch how red he gets.

They're still just going steady, but Remy told me a few weeks back that he thinks Piotr is about ready to pop the question.

Speaking of popping, I'm about ready to. And I really want to. I'm getting sick of feeling this way. All bloated and big and hungry and achy and emotional and tired…

Oh _yeah,_ I guess I forgot to mention that I'm pregnant.

Yep, nine months and ready to pop any day now. Remy better hurry back home before he misses the birth of his child. If he does, I am going to kick him _so _hard…

Anyway, this was quite a surprise for us as it is for you. We had certainly talked about having children, but hadn't decided exactly when we wanted to. We…er…hadn't exactly been as careful about protection as we should have been, I suppose. But it wasn't my fault. Remy is the one who decided to tackle me to the ground unexpectedly and…well, you know what came next.

But don't get me wrong. This is my favorite accident ever. And going by how every night Remy puts his ear to my belly and talks forever, I assume he feels the same way. We decided to be old fashioned and not find out what the sex is until the birth, but I'm pretty sure it's a…something. I want to say boy. Or girl. Or a boy…or maybe a girl.

We'll be happy with either one.

Everyone has started a pool going (again) this time over what the baby is. Everyone says it's a boy because I keep craving blueberries, but Kitty has sworn on her life (I'm not kidding) that it's a girl.

But let's see…what else has happened…

Remy and I got a tiny apartment down the road from the institute. It's small and cozy and dirt cheap. The neighbors are loud and the carpet stank (before I cleaned it repeatedly) and there's never any available parking. The walls are paper thin, we've had problems with spiders, and the two bedrooms we do have are cramped, but we love each other so much we don't really care about any of it.

When Remy is near all of those problems seem so miniscule and dumb. I don't even see the apartment anymore, just him. We can clean the carpet and call an exterminator. We can tell the neighbors to shut up, make do with the small size of the rooms, park on the side of the road, and just deal with the thickness of the walls.

And while that all sounds like a bunch of mushy gushy fun, we still have our problems.

Remy has a lot of annoying habits. For instance, he never puts the toilet lid back down. No matter how many times I yell at him about it, he keeps 'forgetting'. I put it that way because I think he just does it to annoy me. And speaking of annoying me, he also always steals my razor. Then when I want to shave my legs I can't find it. Then when I do find it, it's got all these little Remy facial hairs in it and I have to throw it away because there's no way I can get all of that out.

He hogs the covers and always forgets to wipe his feet before he comes in on a rainy day. He thinks the remote to the TV belongs to him and him alone and if I touch it he puts it up somewhere high where I can't reach it. And I've gotten so huge the past few months, I can't really climb anymore and he finds that hilarious.

It's not hilarious. He's torturing his unborn child and his wife.

But even though he has all of these annoying traits, I'm the happiest woman on earth. Not everything he does is annoying. He does have some favorable traits that far outnumber his annoying ones.

He works all day. He got a job at some tire company where he does…something. No matter how many times he tells me what he does, I can't wrap my mind around it. I don't know…it's something about…he checks to make sure the tires have no problems before they're shipped out to stores or…something like that. I make it sound simple but Remy will go on for fifteen minutes about it.

He's so excited about the baby (I actually think he's more excited than I am) that he went out when we first learned we were pregnant and bought all these books on parenting. And he actually read all of them. Then when we decided to dress up the—until then—empty second bedroom, he went nuts.

I actually had to fight him in the store, telling him over and over that we couldn't fit so much into the budget at once but he didn't listen to me and ended up buying half the store. It was fun though…until we ended up eating oatmeal every day for dinner for a week.

Since I got pregnant, he suddenly thinks that I'm made out of glass. Sometimes this is annoying. But other times it's nice. He doesn't hog the covers as much anymore, and he drives like a grandpa in the car. I haven't picked up anything over two pounds in nine months. Instead of throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me to bed like he used to do, now I'm picked up gently like an injured victim.

He gets up before I do because he goes to work early, and always leaves me a sweet little note on the pillow for me to read when I wake up. I used to get up with him and make him breakfast, but since I've been pregnant he won't let me.

Everyday he brings me flowers. Everyday. Granted, most of the time it's a single little daisy, except on payday when I get sunflowers, but I don't mind it in the least.

He's never stopped opening doors for me, or kissing me until I can't breathe, or telling me that he misses me when we've only been apart for a few hours. Until this last week we haven't gone a day without seeing each other or saying that we love one another and I miss him so bad it hurts.

It really hurts, actually. It's almost like this weird cramping pain in my stomach and my back. I've had them all day, on and off.

Hm. Weird.

Maybe I should call Jean and ask about that. She went to nursing school and graduated a few months ago. Yes, I think I will call her.

But as I waddle (damn it, yes, I waddle now) into the living room to go pick up the phone, the front door opens suddenly and my husband is bounding through the door after me. I forget all about my giant stomach as I dive for him. I don't care—I missed my Remy.

He wraps me up against him, kissing me all over my face and apologizing.

"You didn't call-"

"I know, I'm sorry," he kisses me long and hard as if he's starved for it.

I know _I _have.

"I couldn't get to a phone," he explains and I notice how tired he looks. He could use a shower and shave and a good sleep. But his hair is disheveled and his lips are slightly swollen from my kisses and his eyes are sparkling and I haven't seen him in so long, that I can only think of one thing.

Guess.

"I love you Remy," I try to get closer to him, but my giant stomach is blocking my way.

"I love you, Rogue," he grins and then looks down to my belly pressing into him. He lets go of me in favor of bending and kissing it. "Hi baby, daddy missed you," he says lovingly as he pats my stomach.

Instantly I feel the baby kicking around like crazy. It doesn't even do that for me. It only jumps around like that for Remy and any Elvis Presley song we turn on…Yes, my baby likes Elvis Presley more than it likes me. Of course. That just figures.

"I think she missed you," I muse as I feel the wild kicking.

Remy looks up. "She?"

I shrug. "I don't know, it just came out. I'm actually leaning more towards a boy."

Remy glances thoughtfully at my stomach. "I want a girl. I think it's a girl. Aren't you?" He directs at my belly and is met with another round of kicking. "See?" he asks me with twinkling eyes.

"Ok, I-" I start to say before I feel a very sudden and urgent need coming on. "Sorry, bathroom alert," I turn and waddle back into our tiny bathroom and I hear Remy snickering behind me.

When I'm done with my business, I wash my hands, feeling very strange. I don't know what's wrong with me either. The baby is acting weird. Of course, why wouldn't it? It's mine and Remy's spawn; it's bound to be an insane child. But it's still kicking around like crazy. Weird kid.

Then, as I'm drying my hands, something in there pops.

And—DAMMIT!

Leakage. Lots and lots of leakage.

Ah! EW—oh lord.

Oh this isn't good—this is actually very not good.

"Remy?" I open the door and call calmly, though I am, indeed, freaking out.

"Yeah?" he pops his head out of our bedroom door.

I bite my lip as I look at him and try to remain calm. "Uh—I'm pretty sure my water just broke."

Remy—er…_kind of_ freaked out. And when I say freaked out, I mean he _really_ flipped out and went crazy.

But that's a story for another time.


End file.
